I'd strongly advise anyone coming across this fic to read its predecessor Unconditionally first. This story picks up where Unconditionally left off.
So here it is! The first chapter of the sequel to Unconditionally! The same adorable Rachel and Elsa, with added angst! Yes, this fic takes a sharp turn from the utter fluff of Unconditionally. Starting off this fic with a short-ish chapter (c.2500 words), lets see how it goes!
This fic, like his father, and his father before him, is dedicated to my sweet, wonderful friend, TalkElsannaToMe. You're my inspiration :-)
Rachel stood under the scalding water with her eyes closed, relishing the feeling of the boiling cascade on her bare shoulders. Her darling fiancée had regrettably left that morning, as she agreed to spend the day with her sister. They made sweet love the entire night, and Rachel still felt drained, mainly from the countless orgasms she experienced, rather than the lack of sleep. She quivered as she remembered Elsa's tongue writhing inside her, and she ran her hands over her breasts, clearing them of excess soap. A sliver of pleasure shot through her as her palms rubbed over her nipples. Biting her lip, she sat down on the floor of the shower, and moved her hand down to between her legs, entering herself. Casting her mind to the events of the previous night, she brought herself to a shuddering orgasm.
Breathing heavily, she stood and turned off the shower. Stepping out, she reached for a towel and dried herself off, before wrestling herself into a dress. She felt alien in it, being more of a sweatpants and t-shirt girl, though her mother had insisted. She and Gretchen were to spend an evening together at a fine restaurant, in celebration of their recent reconciliation. She brushed the knots out of her hair with great difficulty, wincing at every tug. When it was done, she tied it in an elegant braid, a subtle homage to her darling Elsa. She traipsed downstairs to find her mother, who was standing in front of the mirror examining her earrings.
"All set, Rachel? Good!" She went to the front door, Rachel following, and unlocked it. They walked out to Gretchen's car, shivering in the brisk air. The drive to the restaurant was uneventful, and soon they were walking through the front door. Rachel marvelled at the opulent foyer, her jaw dropping.
"Shit, this place is nice!"
"Language, Rachel!" Gretchen snapped. The host greeted them pleasantly, dressed in a suit that must have cost more than Rachel's car. "Good evening, and welcome."
Gretchen smiled "Table for Faulkner."
The host scanned the list briefly. "This way, please." He led them through the restaurant to a small table tucked away in the corner. They sat down and he handed them the menus, bowing his head slightly.
Rachel examined the menu carefully. There were a great many dishes that she didn't recognise, though it didn't help that the menu was written in French.
"What the hell is escargot?" Rachel asked, scowling at the menu.
"Snails, dear," Gretchen replied, not looking up from her menu.
"Say what, now?"
Her mother didn't reply, only smiled slightly to herself, humming an unrecognisable tune.
"I think I'll get the steak and chips!" Rachel announced.
"Really?" Gretchen frowned at Rachel over her menu. "You can get that anywhere!"
"Yeah...but I like it."
"Oh fine!" Gretchen chuckled, and caught the eye of the waiter. He walked over to their table swiftly and took their orders. Rachel suddenly realised she was starving, her stomach grumbling loudly. Whenever she and Elsa were making love, they often did so for half a day or more continuously, and almost always forgot to take a break to eat.
"Did I ever ask you how you met Elsa?" Gretchen asked suddenly.
Rachel looked up, surprised at her mother's attempt at conversation. "No, you didn't. Anna introduced us, as a matter of fact. You know I've known Anna for quite a while, yes? She'd been wanting me to meet her sister for ages, but I've always said no. You know how I am around new people, right?"
Gretchen nodded.
"Well, one day she was being particularly insistent, and I said fine! I didn't think it would actually happen, and the set date was weeks away...but finally it was upon me. I was so nervous! I heard that knock on the door and my heart pounded, I knew she was right behind that doorway. I was still hiding in the next room, Luke let her in, I wasn't even there to see her when she came inside. But I mustered up the courage and walked out into the living room...and what I saw took my breath away. She was, no, she is the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on!" A small tear formed in the corner of her eye, and Gretchen smiled warmly.
"How long did it take for you two to start dating?" her mother asked.
Rachel faltered. She hoped her mother wouldn't ask. She was a rather conservative woman with traditional values, as evidenced by her reaction to the fact that her only daughter was gay. Rachel doubted that she'd approve of the fact they shared their first kiss on the day they met, and first made love the day after.
"I...uhhh..."
"It's okay, Rachel."
"About five hours," Rachel said, with a nervous chuckle.
"Five hours?"
Rachel blushed, looking down at the table, embarrassed.
"It's okay, Rachel. I know she's important to you. I'm just glad you're happy."
"Thanks mom."
They spoke quietly for the next ten minutes, until the waiter returned with their food. Rachel's stomach growled audibly as the smell of meat reached her nose, and she dove in as soon as the plate touched the table.
"Slow down there, Rachel," Gretchen admonished. "You'll give yourself indigestion."
"Worth it," Rachel mumbled around a mouthful of steak.
Gretchen smiled. It was almost a sad smile, she looked into Rachel's green eyes with a hint of longing, and almost...regret.
"What's wrong, mom?"
"Nothing, dear. It's just...when I look at you...I can't believe how much you've changed...how much you've grown, in only a few short months! I remember what you were like before you met Elsa. Do you remember how long it took me to actually get you into that apartment?"
Rachel laughed. "Fifteen months, wasn't it?"
"About that, yes! You didn't want to be alone, and although we rarely got on, you wanted to be home with me. But imagine what life would have been like if you hadn't moved out. You would never have met Elsa, never have fallen in love with her, never would have gotten engaged to her!"
Rachel blinked, tears forming in her eyes. "That isn't something I want to think about, Mother."
"I'm sorry. Rachel. I don't know what I'm saying, really."
"It's fine, really. But I wonder...can I ask you a...personal question?"
"Of course, honey."
"Remember when I first came out? How you...um...reacted?"
Gretchen sat up straight, a stern look on her face. "Where are you going with this, Rachel?"
"You don't have to answer me if you don't want to," Rachel assured hurriedly. "But I never knew...why you reacted the way you did. I've forgiven you, of course, I know that's not how you really felt, but..."
Gretchen inhaled sharply. "It was just an old prejudice, Rachel. Can we leave it at that?"
"I, yes, but-"
"Rachel!" Gretchen snapped. "Please?"
Rachel nodded, "Okay."
The two finished their meal in silence, and before long it was time to pay and leave. Gretchen handled the bill while Rachel waited in the car, still dissatisfied about her mother's reaction.
Gretchen got into the driver's seat and pulled away. They sat in silence as they pulled onto the highway, speeding towards home.
"I'm sorry about before, Mom," Rachel said sincerely.
"I am too, Rachel," Gretchen replied. "I owe you a proper explanation."
"No, you don't."
"Yes, I do," her mother insisted. She took a deep breath before speaking again. "When I was twenty, long before I met your father, I was in love with someone else."
Rachel blinked, surprised. Her mother had never spoken of any other partners other than her father, as far as Rachel knew, he had been the only one.
"We met when we were twenty, and quickly fell in love, almost like you and Elsa. The next seven years were the happiest of my life, except for one thing..."
"And what was that?" Rachel asked.
"Your grandmother, my mother, wasn't happy that I was..." Gretchen paused, collecting her thoughts. "I'm sorry, Rachel, this is hard."
"Take your time, Mom."
"My mother didn't approve of the fact that I was...that I was dating a woman."
Rachel gasped. "A woman?"
Gretchen raised her eyebrow. "Yes, Rachel. Her name was Alyn. She was my first love. She was my entire world, my reason for existence, but my mother never accepted her...or me. You never met your grandmother, did you?"
"No."
"Good. Heinous woman." Gretchen laughed, but there was no humour in it. "She was always very traditional, very conservative, though that was nothing unusual for a woman of her generation. It took me a long time to come out to her. I thought to myself that she'd at least be happy for me, but no. She threw me out of the house, no clothes, no food, no money, nothing, and told me to never contact her again. I had nowhere to go, except to Alyn. Now, at this point, we'd only been dating for a couple of months, it was far too soon to begin living together!"
"But me and Elsa -"
"Yes, Rachel, I'm aware of the irony," Gretchen said, chuckling. "I turned up that night on Alyn's doorstep, soaked to the skin, having spent the entire afternoon deliberating on whether to take the leap with Alyn, or go crawling back to my mother. I took the leap, and I am beyond thankful I did. Her parents answered the door, and immediately let me in. They were lovely people, warm, welcoming, caring, and what's more, completely supportive of me and her daughter being together. Alyn came bounding down the stairs and threw herself into my arms, kissing me tenderly. She took me upstairs and got me dried off, and into some new clothes. We made love for the first time that night - "
"Ew, mom!" Rachel protested.
"Hey, I had to listen to you and Elsa have sex the other day, so you can sit there and at least listen to me talk about it!"
"Fine." Rachel said, pouting.
Gretchen laughed, and continued. "Things were happy for us, for the next seven years. My mother was out of my life, Alyn's parents were still welcoming, they had no issues of me living in their house until I was twenty-seven, and I thought we would be together forever. But..." She stopped, tears beginning to well in her eyes, and she wiped them away.
"It's okay, mom, you don't have to continue."
"Yes, Rachel, I think I do." She pulled off the highway and on to another fast road, swerving between the cars.
"Alyn was working in her father's business at that time. It was her birthday that day, her twenty-seventh, and me and her parents were busy planning a surprise party at home. All of her friends were there, granted, there were only a few, but they were close friends, good friends. It was growing close to the time she normally arrived home, so we turned out the lights and waited. A car pulled up, and we all waited with bated breath, ready to leap out and yell "Surprise!". But we didn't hear the keys in the door. Instead, we heard a knock. Alyn's mother turned the lights back on and opened the door. On the porch stood a police officer. He was a young man, probably fairly new to the force, but his eyes were filled with sadness. And then, I knew that my dear Alyn was dead." Tears were openly streaming down her mother's face, but she paid them no mind. "There was a robbery at the store, the officer told us. Alyn and her boss were being held up, he demanded they empty the safe for them. Something spooked him, I think he thought her boss was reaching for a gun, and he shot her. Right in the chest. She was dead before she hit the ground. I never got to say goodbye."
Rachel sat there, dumbstruck. She tried to find the words to comfort her mother, but only one thing sprung to mind. "Why didn't you ever tell me this before?"
Gretchen smiled ruefully. "I wasn't ready, Rachel. I loved that woman, I honestly thought we'd be together forever. But that was not meant to be. Alyn's parents were broken, understandably, and not long after, I left and returned home to my mother. I was a constant reminder to them, and although they never said it, I knew they didn't want me there any more. So I left. That evening I walked up to my mother's door and knocked. For the first time in seven years I saw her face, and when I told her what happened, she laughed. She told me that she knew that I would know nothing but misery for dating a woman. She embarked on a crusade against me, feeding me hateful propaganda about homosexuality for the next four years. And, you know what the funny thing is? I began to believe her. Yes, dating Alyn brought me nothing but pain in the end, and by the time I met your father I was so hateful of...everything Alyn represented. So when you told me about you and Elsa, it brought back all those painful memories, and I couldn't take it. I couldn't bear the thought of you going through everything I did. Granted, my reaction was probably the worst I could have done, but it was all I knew."
Rachel sat there in stunned silence, reeling with all the information her mother had landed on her. She wrung her hands awkwardly as Gretchen cried silently next to her.
"She loved you, you know." Rachel said quietly.
"Thank you, honey."
"And thank you for walking me down the aisle. It means...a great deal to me."
"For you, Rachel, a thousand times over. I love you."
Rachel didn't have a chance to reply as the jet black car slammed into the side of Gretchen's sedan. She screamed as the car slid sideways into the other lane, swiping another vehicle. They spun, and the car flipped, rolling down the embankment. Rachel felt a searing pain in her left leg. She noticed that the cabin looked oddly small, and she could no longer see her leg; there seemed to be a lot of metal in the way. The car stopped rolling suddenly, and Rachel saw a rock face fleeting past the windscreen, before they hit the ground and everything went black.