The open door
This story is a sequel to my previously posted "A Door in the Wall".
Even though it might not be totally necessary to read the prequel to this story, it will give you a better and more detailed understanding of what happened, how Quinn and Rachel became a couple, how they are coping and what kind of obstacles they, their friends and families had and still have to overcome.
AU: The story plays in the near future and some references to the past might not completely coincide with the actual series, as parts of the prequel were written before the 4th, 5th and 6th season had aired.
This part has been written in the frame of the "Glee - Out with a bang big bang" event. Someone recommended me as an author to participate and even though I have no idea who it was, I thank you! With out this little push, this story would still reside in my brain instead of existing now "on paper" for you to read. Though it wasn't easy to write under time and word-count pressure, I still like the outcome. I hope you will too.
A million thanks to my beta reader Oracleismyname. She sparked some ideas and made sure that not too many mistakes are left. If there are, it's entirely my fault.
This is for Kerry.
Prologue – Chapter 1
"Oh god, this was such a great dinner! I don't think I will ever be able to move again." Rachel leaned back on the comfortable couch and stretched her feet out on the coffee table, balancing her wine glass on her belly with one hand.
Quinn slumped down next to her and grabbed Rachel's free hand, placing it on her own full stomach.
"This is how it feels to be five months pregnant," the blonde joked and the rest of their friends gathered around in the living room laughed.
Kurt sat down opposite the two ladies in a creaky lawn chair and followed Rachel's lead by propping his feet up against the table, still chuckling.
He heard Blaine clanking with the dishes he piled into the dishwasher and Santana was whispering something to her girlfriend while they entered the living area.
Kurt had managed to keep the apartment after Rachel had moved out. He and Blaine had not gotten back together yet at that time, but their relationship had slowly been on the mend. Still, in between Kurt had a roommate from NYADA, Jake, move in for a while to be able to afford the rent.
After a difficult time of reconciliation and slowly growing together again, finally Blaine had moved into the spacious apartment two and a half years before when Jake left NYADA.
The apartment still had the lofty character from when Rachel and Kurt had first moved in. Only now the boys had separated their bed room with a glass front and sliding doors. It was a nice touch as it gave them privacy in case they had sleep over guests, but took nothing away from the openness the whole apartment had.
Blaine entered the living room and a moment of quiet ascended over the group.
"Wow, did I interrupt something?" The young man frowned and grabbed a seat from the corner, pulling it closer to the group of friends. "Shall I leave the room again so you can keep talking about me?" He joked with a grin.
Kurt pulled him down and kissed him quickly. "No, sit down silly. I guess it's just the contented full-belly silence after a great meal with wonderful people." His wedding ring glinted in the light as he moved his hand and Quinn smiled when the reflection caught her attention. She was happy that her two friends had found their way back to each other. This is what had given her hope during the time she and Rachel had been separated.
Blaine and Kurt's wedding lay back almost a year now. They had married in May the year before and it had been a wonderful reception; full of joy and tears. The friends had all pitched in helping the couple to plan and organize their important event.
Hopefully she and Rachel would also have an unforgettable day. Quinn smiled and lightly squeezed Rachel's hand who grinned back in answer. She had noticed what had captured Quinn's eyes and was sure they both had the same thoughts.
Looking around the room Rachel could not suppress a content sigh. Just two years ago she would never have thought that she would feel this happy again being amongst her friends, old and new. But here she was enjoying the little celebration their friends had organized for Quinn and her.
Quinn and Rachel were soon having their own wedding to celebrate and Santana had suggested having a little "Do-you-remember-when" party. She claimed that it was a tradition in her large Latin American family that whenever someone got married, close friends and family were gathered to share stories about the couple.
Rachel had insisted on some censorship, not knowing with what kind of embarrassing stories her friends would come up with, but Santana had not wanted to hear any of it. To Rachel and Quinn's relief, the evening had been funny and filled with laughter so far. No embarrassing stories; at least not yet.
Kurt had loved the idea the second he heard it and offered to host the party. He and Blaine had cooked a three course meal and Santana and her girlfriend Teresa had decorated the apartment with candles and old and new pictures from their Glee times and from gatherings after high school until the most recent times. In the background recordings from their Glee practice and competitions were playing at a low volume mixed with other songs.
When Quinn and Rachel had arrived at the decorated apartment earlier this evening, all they could do was stare in wonder at the decor and the thoughtfulness their friends had put into the preparation. The photo documentary adorned several walls and strings that were woven across the rooms with pictures attached with cloth pins. This served as great triggers for trips down memory lanes.
Lauren, a friend who Rachel had gotten to know during her birthday party in a club a year and a half earlier, and her boyfriend Max lounged on the wooden floor in the living room area on a comfortable rug with big, soft cushions under their bellies. Max stretched and placed his beer bottle on the table in front of him and then fell back onto his soft pillow.
"This is heaven. I agree with Rachel. I don't think I'll ever move again. Guys, you'll have me planted here on this floor for the rest of your lives," he said to Kurt and moved his hands in sign language to relay his words to his girlfriend. Lauren had lost her hearing a few years back due to a severe infection.
Rachel followed Max's hands and was still amazed that it was possible to have such an interactive conversation this way as if it was the most normal thing in a world. She had such wonderful and accepting friends, she marveled, while she followed the moving hands of her buddies.
"Maybe we should paint a white line around you, you know, how they do it in crime shows. This way no one will stumble over you," Santana answered sarcastically.
"Yeah, feel free, as long as I can lie here, I'm fine," Max grumbled from his spot on the floor, his hands moving again, after he watched Santana form her words with her hands in parallel. He was able to follow snippets of conversation being hard of hearing, but often it was exhausting and difficult for him to follow. He and Lauren had met at the school for the deaf in New York a couple of years back, shortly after Lauren had lost her hearing.
Having become a tight knit group of friends, they had all taken on learning sign language some time ago and managed it to various degrees. This way the friends with a hearing deficiency felt fully accepted and could participate in the conversations and it didn't burden just one person to interpret all the exchanges.
"Good Lord, we are a lazy bunch," Tom piped up from his corner on the sofa. He was the only person who was not able to sign as fluently as the others, so usually one of the group acted as the interpreter for him. "Good thing it's a public holiday tomorrow and we have no shooting scheduled. I don't think I could get up."
Rachel slapped his thigh playfully before she lifted her hands to sign in parallel. "Hey, Mr. Filmmaker, what kind of attitude is that? You made me get up every single day at five in the morning or earlier when we were shooting our movie. Would serve you right to taste some of your own medicine," she scolded her friend with a laugh.
She and Tom had gotten to know each other when they worked together in Rachel's first Broadway musical. Her former colleague soon found out however, that his talent and interest lay more in the area of film making than stage performance.
"Do you forget, Ms Berry-soon-to-be-Ms Fabray, that I was there every morning with you? And often late in the evening going over the next scenes with you, hm?" He slapped her back.
"No doubt planning the little pranks you and the crew were playing on me."
"There was only one, come on! And that was funny," Tom chuckled.
"Yes it was. It was nice welcome gesture," Rachel conceded and placed her hands in her lap for a second before taking them up again to continue signing. "Though I think it was more painful for the rest of the crew than for me," she laughed, remembering.
"It was much nicer that we were all invited to the premiere of your movie," Santana threw in. "I loved parading in front of the photographers making them wonder who the hot sexy bitch was that accompanied the dwarf-lady and Broadway starlet up the red carpet," she waved her hand at Rachel and Quinn.
The latter part of the comment earned the Latina a well-aimed pillow in the face from Rachel. Everyone in the room was well aware that Quinn was way more than a starlet, but knowing Santana, Quinn just snorted and rolled her eyes, then laughed out loud when she saw Rachel's missile hit its aim.
With an "oompf" Santana plucked the pillow off her face and playfully threw it back at the offender.
"Apart from a sexy bitch parading up and down the aisles, the party after the screening of the movie was really good," Quinn added with a grin and kissed her wife-to-be on the cheek and placed a hand shortly on the pillow that now rested on Rachel's lap. "I'm still so very proud of you, darling. You did such a great job and I know it was not easy for you." Quinn's hands elegantly formed the words in parallel.
Lauren laughed when she imagined Santana mixing up the crowd of the party. "Did someone ask you for an autograph?" She asked with a grin.
The Latina shook her head. "Nah, just a couple of reporters wanted to know who I was. Bet they crunched up their brains for the rest of the night to figure that out. I told them to do their fucking homework, for God's sake!" She threw her hands up in the air theatrically, which made them all laugh again, knowing fully well how diva-like Santana could act. The poor reporters probably were also on the receiving end of the Latina's bitch-stare that could turn stones to dust.
Rachel smiled wistfully while she thought back to the time of the shooting. It had been a lot of work to get used to the routine of filming and to work out how taking directions and communication on set worked for her. With a lot of preparation she had managed just fine in the end, but there had been one scene that was extraordinarily difficult.
Her past and present situations came crashing down into that one scene and it had cost her a lot to keep her wits together and not give into the rising dread and desperation. With the typical sheer determination and grit that was so much part of her, Rachel finally had managed to not only push her fears and doubts aside, but also to deliver an absolutely convincing performance.
That's what everyone told her at least. She herself, could never be a hundred percent sure. She had to rely on others to tell her.
© by Phoenix2013, 2015