Hey, guys! Long time no see!
So this 'story' is basically just a mixture of one-shot epilogues, taking place throughout the gang's future. They'll be written in chronological order, although will not necessarily follow on directly from each other. I'm making no promises about regular updates either, so just think of them as random surprises through the year haha. Less structure here than in my other stories, but I still think you'll enjoy them.
And, unlike in the past, please feel free to send me any other ideas you might have!
ENJOY!
"I like that dark one." Hayley nodded to Quinn's hand as she lay on the sofa, her feet crossed at the ankle and spoon digging in her tub of ice cream.
Santana turned to look at the girl, dropping the paint samples from the wall as she stared incredulously, "It doesn't matter which you like, you won't be living here."
"Just giving you my opinion." The younger girl shrugged, "Either way, I'm not letting you butcher Aunt Clara's house. Choose whichever you like, apart from that palest one because it's making me throw up in my mouth."
Quinn frowned at the colour in question, before shrugging her agreement and abandoning it on the small pile on the mantelpiece. "Talking of which, I wanted to talk to you about something." She took a deep breath, perching on the arm of the chair opposite and staring at the girl as Santana nodded, placing the paint charts down and subtly taking her leave.
Hayley watched her go with a wry smile, before turning back to her cousin with an eyebrow raised, "Don't worry, Mom, I'm not sexually active." She mocked, the corners of her mouth twitching. The older blonde aimed a gentle kick at the girl's legs, and Hayley scowled, "Alright, alright! What is it?"
"So you keep going on and on and on and on and-"
"I get it."
Quinn nodded, "You keep saying about wanting to move out and get your own place with Miss Gynae-mi-tee-hee."
Hayley rolled her eyes, "I wish you wouldn't call her that."
"Sorry, bad habit." She reasoned, "Blame Santana. Anyway, I know you're trying to move in with Zoe...and I wanted to help." She began, her hands clasped in her lap, but Hayley sat up quickly, abandoning her ice cream on the table, holding her hands up and shaking her head.
"No. Stop there, no." She replied insistently, "You've already let me live here for a year, playing ridiculously low rent, and I can't take any more money from you. It's not fair."
Quinn quirked an eyebrow, waiting patiently before rolling her eyes, "Alright. Wasn't going to offer you money, but anyway." She slid down onto the chair, settling herself before turning her attention back to the girl, "As you know, pretty soon we're going to have a baby."
"You're hardly showing at all." Hayley interjected dryly, earning a glare from her cousin, who shook her head.
"You know what, never mind!" She clapped her hands, moving to stand up, "If you don't want to listen then it doesn't matter."
Hayley immediately rolled off the side of the couch, reaching for the girl before sitting up straight, "No! No, wait! I want to know! Tell me!"
"No." Quinn shrugged nonchalantly, crossing to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea as Hayley traipsed along behind her. "You ruined it."
"No, please tell me!" She pouted, sitting down at the breakfast bar, "Look. You have my full attention."
The older girl sighed, leaning her hip on the counter beside her and turning back to the girl, "Okay, then. So pretty soon we're going to have a baby, and Santana and I both want to take some time off work. Now, obviously Santana has her maternity from the school, then when she goes back she'll be part-time." Hayley nodded as she watched the girl, her eyes wide as she listened intently, "Sadly, I don't have that luxury." Quinn shrugged, "One of the drawbacks of having your own business."
"Right..."
"So, I have a proposal for you."
Hayley chuckled, her nose wrinkling, "Well I'd love to, Quinn, but isn't incest taking this relationship too far?"
"I want you to work at the bakery." She continued, ignoring her cousin's comment entirely. "Obviously Marley will be manager, but I want you to help out and be second in command. That way if she's ever sick or something comes up, you can run the store."
"Are you serious?" The girl asked, her eyebrows raised earnestly.
"Yup." Quinn nodded. "However I do have an ulterior motive to just using you for labour and helping you to get out of my house." She chuckled, and Hayley raised an eyebrow,
"Pretty much my house, too."
The older girl snorted, "I inherited it." She countered, before shaking her head and continuing, "So, in the not-so-distant future, Iwould like to expand and open a second bakery - further out, in the suburbs, rather than travelling into the city all the time." She continued, folding her arms, "And so, if you were up for it, there'd be the possibility of making you manager of the new bakery, once we've ironed out all the creases." Nodding, she watched Hayley's expression shift from curiosity, through bashful admiration, to nervous horror.
"Manager?" She repeated, her mouth hanging open slightly.
"Now, obviously I know that becoming manager is a long-term plan, and that's all far away, so you don't have to think about any of that yet. And if you didn't want to be part of the business to that extent then that's entirely up to you and I don't mind either way." She shrugged, before nodding seriously, "But I really think you should consider working at Sweetie Pie's. I need to employ someone anyway for when we get the baby, you want to move out of this place and we might as well come to a mutually beneficial agreement."
Hayley's face twisted with disgust, "That sounds like you want to be fuck buddies, stop being disgusting."
Quinn sighed impatiently, rolling her eyes, "Can you be serious for five minutes?"
"I'm serious, that's disgusting." She nodded, before rolling her eyes, "Well, I don't know! You've sprung all of this on me, it hasn't sunk in."
"Alright, that's true." Her cousin agreed, moving over to lean her forearms on the counter beside the girl, "I just think that you stepping in would mean that I didn't have to interview people and stuff - I hated doing that when I hired Marley, so it would really take the pressure off. It works out for both of us short-term, and in the long run if you wanted to you could take over and have your own part of the business to run." She shrugged, "Plus, I like the idea of having a real family-run bakery. We could name the other one Sugar Plum's?"
Hayley frowned, "Why would we call it that?"
"That's what Grandpa used to call you. I was Sweetie Pie and you were Sugar Plum." Quinn nodded, "Sam was Champ and Claire was...well, I don't remember what Claire was."
"Who cares?" Hayley shrugged, before peering at her cousin, "So that's why it's called Sweetie Pie's?"
Quinn stared at the girl, "Well, yeah. Why did you think it was called that?"
"I don't know." She recoiled defensively, "I just thought you'd picked a...weird name." She shrugged exaggeratedly, throwing her hands in the air.
"Anyway," The older girl commanded their attention again, running her hands through her hair as she attempted to de-stress herself, "will you at least consider taking on a job at Sweetie Pie's? And if you do, you can see what you think about opening another store."
Hayley smiled, "I'll do more than that." She nodded, "I will accept your proposal to work at the bakery, provided I don't have to wear one of those lame aprons."
Quinn tutted, "No deal. Sorry. The aprons are kind of our thing."
"Okay." The girl sighed thoughtfully, "What if I wear one that isn't covered in stupid flowers and embroidery?" She grimaced, "Just, like, a normal one?"
"Agreed." Quinn grinned, holding her hand out to the girl, "Welcome to the family business."
Hayley chuckled, reaching out to shake the offered hand, "Thanks, Q. You'd better not be too bossy though."
"I'm making no promises." She chuckled as the doorbell rang. She raised an eyebrow at her cousin, "Expecting someone?"
The girl shrugged, "No. It's probably one of my many adoring admirers." She smiled brightly, "Just tell them to leave any gifts on the hall table." She sniggered wryly, stretching across the breakfast bar for a magazine and flicking the cover over.
Quinn chuckled, rolling her eyes as she crossed into the hall, glancing up the stairs to see whether Santana had been expecting someone. There was no sign of the girl, and she frowned curiously as she tugged the door open, her jaw dropping immediately as her eyes grew wide.
"Hi." She recoiled slightly, her face clouded with confusion, before she caught herself and gave her head a small shake, "I mean. Hi, mom. What's...what's up?" She shrugged cluelessly, staring open-mouthed at he woman, who smiled nervously.
"I did it." She nodded, "I left your father."
"Fucking hell." Quinn gawped, earning herself a disapproving scowl from her mother.
"Quinnie, I don't think that's appropriate."
The blonde nodded, "Sorry. Come in." She stepped back, waving a hand for the woman to enter as she took a deep breath, attempting to wrap her head around the current events. "So...just like that? What did he say?"
"You're not supposed to let stalker fans in, Quinn. Jesus." Hayley shouted from the kitchen as she spun on her chair, her wide grin falling into a panicked grimace as she set eyes on her relative, " Oh! Hey, Aunty Ju. Sorry for the...blasphemy." Her cheeks pinked slightly as she slid off her chair, grabbing the magazine and scuttling awkwardly past them, "I'll just...go upstairs..."
Quinn took a deep breath and sat down in the armchair, offering her mother the sofa,"So...daddy?" She shrugged, "I can't imagine he was too happy?"
"WHO'S HERE?"
She rolled her eyes as Santana's voice echoed throughout the house, sending her mother an apologetic grimace.
"He won't be." Judy nodded slowly, "When he gets home and finds the note I left him."
"What?" Quinn gawped, "He doesn't even know? You just did a...midnight flit?" She waved her hands exasperatedly as the spoke, her eyes wide with horror and eyebrows practically disappearing into her hairline, "Oh my God."
"Well, I thought it would be easier this way." The woman defended with a shrug, "I don't have the energy to argue with him anymore. I'm robbing myself of the opportunity to see his face while I finally stand up to him, but it's worth it to just get away quietly and with no fuss." She nodded, her hands clasped tightly in her lap as she took a deep breath, "I've already contacted our law firm and will be filing for divorce in a week's time."
Quinn nodded slowly as her mother explained, her eyes wide, before finally swallowing hard, "Sorry...but fucking hell."
Her mother gave a nervous titter, "I know."
She to a deep breath, sitting forward with her elbows on her knees as she dropped her face into her hands, sighing heavily, "I can't believe you did it."
"Neither can I." Judy replied, shaking her head quickly, "But I did. And I've never felt so liberated. And I've never been happier to see you." She smiled as Quinn looked up, her expression a mixture of bemused admiration and disbelief.
The corners of her mouth twitched into a small smile, which grew into a wide grin as she chuckled, shaking her head slowly, "I can't believe you did it." She repeated, giggling manically as she stood up and rushed over to the sofa, smothering her mother in a tight hug and causing both women to slump back against the couch. Judy gave a relieved giggle as Quinn finally sat upright again and pulled her mother to sit beside her, grinning widely.
"Well, I just wanted to come and tell you before I checked in to my hotel." She smiled, "I thought it would be best to come to this area. Far enough away from your father but still, you know, close to family." She gave a nervous shrug, but Quinn grinned.
"Good choice." She nodded, "But there's no way you're wasting money on a hotel, you can have one of the rooms here." She gestured upstairs, "Join the swearing, blaspheming, sinning side of the Fabray family." Giggling, she shrugged, "Maybe you'll surprise yourself."
Judy chuckled, shaking her head, "I'm not sure about that. And though it does seem that you girls need someone to keep you on track..." She snorted, watching her daughter with admiration, "I'm proud of how much you've all achieved."
Quinn grinned bashfully, bowing her head, "Yeah, we'll, we've tried." She chuckled, "Although it seems Hayley's effort is only just beginning."
"Still," her mother shrugged, "you've got the biggest heart of anyone I know. I can't wait until you're a mother."
"Speaking of which!" Quinn grinned, "I said in my email that we had the nursery finished...wanna see?"
The woman grinned widely, "Of course!"
She led the way upstairs and across the landing to the nursery, where Santana and Hayley were both on their knees on the floor, huddled together with their ears pressed to the carpet, whispering furiously.
"I think she said she left him!" Hayley nodded adamantly, but Santana scoffed.
"Oh, don't be ridiculous. I'm sure she's just here to visit while Russell's away, you'll have heard wrong."
Hayley sighed impatiently, "I did not!"
Quinn rolled her eyes and rapped her knuckle on the open door, standing with her arms folded and eyebrow raised as Hayley slowly turned to look at them, her faces fixed in guilty smiles. Santana shook her head casually, peering down at the cream carpet, "No, I don't think it left a stain." She shrugged innocently.
"Well, that's great news." Hayley nodded, making a show of wiping her brow with relief, "Phew."
"Hey, guys." Santana grinned as she pushed herself to her feet confidently, "Hayley dropped a glass of...water earlier so we were just...checking it." She trailed off as the girl beside her glared incredulously, but nodded to her cousin and Aunt.
"Yes, that's what happened. Silly me, I forgot that water is colourless." She lied pointedly, her mouth set in a grim, forced smile. "Anyway!" She clapped her hands together, "I'm going to just go...again...slightly less subtly this time." She smiled as she brushed past the women in the doorway and jogged quickly up the stairs to the attic.
Quinn turned back to her wife, one eyebrow raised, "I just came to show my mom the nursery like I promised, but I didn't realise it was already in use."
Santana shrugged, "I was putting towels away when Hayley collared me about the stain. God knows why she was even in here, but it's cute isn't it?" She nodded to Judy, who chuckled and nodded.
"Isn't it strange how you were crouched on the floor of the room directly above where we were talking?" The blonde nodded slowly, "What a coincidence."
"Yes. Yes, it is."
"Sticking to that story?" Quinn asked knowingly, folding her arms and leaning against the door with a smug grin.
"Yes. Yes, I am."
"Well, it's lovely!" Judy replied quickly, stepping into the room and gazing around her, brushing over the girls' stand-off. The walls were painted a pale biscuit colour, and she nodded approvingly at the cutesy line-drawings of various wild animals that were dotted around, "Did you two do it?"
Santana tilted her head in consideration, "With some help, yeah. We did most of it but the girls all helped. Especially Brittany."
"Apparently she has a penchant for drawing anthropomorphised animal infants." Quinn added, remarking, "It wasn't a talent any of us saw coming."
"Well, it's gorgeous. I can't wait to meet my grandchild." Judy grinned, "I'll have to find somewhere permanent to live soon." She spoke absent-mindedly, "And a job. Wow." The woman blinked, looking slightly stunned as the magnitude of her actions threatened to overwhelm her.
Quinn stepped over to her mother, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, "You'll be fine. One step at a time.'' She nodded, "For now just...take it one step at a time." The woman lifted her hand to cover her daughter's, patting it gratefully.
"You're right." She agreed, turning to Santana, "Hayley was right." She explained, "I have left Russell." Santana opened her mouth to deny the claim, but the woman raised an eyebrow, "Sorry, Santana. You two are no Jess and Brittany."
The brunette nodded begrudgingly, before giving the woman a sympathetic smile, "Sorry to hear that."
"No, you're not." Judy shook her head, a small smile making the corners of her mouth twitch, "And I'm not either."
"She's going to be staying with us for a while." Quinn explained with a hopeful smile, mouthing 'Thank you' to her wife behind her mother's back.
Judy frowned, "Not for long, though." She assured her, "I'm perfectly capable of staying in a hotel but Quinn seems to be insisting."
The blonde shrugged, "You can stay in a hotel...until Daddy cuts off all your finances. Then you'll end up here anyway."
"Oh...of course." The woman gave a small nod, "You're right. I hadn't thought of that."
"So don't worry." Quinn smiled, "You can stay here as long as it takes. Besides, Sam's back in the US in a few weeks so he'll be dropping by, too. It'll be nice to have the family together."
Santana nodded throughout their discussion, her eyes narrowed slightly as she internally prepared herself for the barrage of Fabrays that were now apparently all going to be residing in her house. Along with the baby they were expecting in a matter of weeks. And all the visitors that would come to see the baby. Which would also include her entire family.
Thank fuck you bought a big house, Aunt Clara.
"So go get your stuff out of the car." Quinn urged her mother with a grin, "You can take your pick of rooms." She shrugged, "Hayley sleeps in the attic so you can have whichever double you want."
"She haunts the attic, would be more accurate." Santana added.
"I HEARD THAT!" A voice echoed from the floor above.
The brunette scowled up at the ceiling, "GET YOUR EAR OFF THE FUCKING FLOOR THEN!"
Quinn watched her mother, flinching uncomfortably as her wife swore loudly, offering the woman an awkwardly apologetic smile, "Hope you enjoy staying here."
The woman chuckled before taking her leave, shaking her head incredulously as she began to descend the stairs, and Quinn turned back to her wife, "Okay, we're going to have to curb the swearing." She nodded, "It's not that I want to conform to her expectations...it's just really weird hearing someone swear in front of my mom."
"It's a habit we'll kick." Santana nodded her agreement as she stepped across to the blonde, "So are you okay?"
Quinn nodded, raising her arms to wrap around her wife's neck, "Yeah...I think." She gave a nervous chuckle, "It's not quite sunk in that's she's actually done it, but I'm proud of her." Eyes wide, she nodded, "That's a...big deal."
"I know." Santana nodded, impressed, "That's taken a lot of guts...and I'm really impressed and everything..." She stroked her fingers soothingly across the bottom of the blonde's back.
"But..." Quinn raised an eyebrow expectantly, grabbing Santana's hand to still it's persuasive movement.
"In the next two years, do you see a point where we don't also live with a member of your family?" She asked thoughtfully, "Or three."
The blonde shook her head defeatedly as she dropped her forehead onto the girl's shoulder, "I have no idea." She chuckled, "At least we can guarantee that my dad isn't ever going to turn up and beg my forgiveness."
"I suppose." Santana nodded, bowing her head to look Quinn in the eye as the girl lifted her head, "But seriously, I fell in love with you when you had no family apart from Sam, and I think I preferred it like that." She continued mock-seriously.
Quinn giggled, "Well you can always move back into the apartment, complete with complimentary funky smell and life-endangering elevator?"
The brunette tilted her head thoughtfully, before shrugging, "Okay, I'll pass." She grinned, leaning in to rest her forehead on her wife's, "But for the record, we're not getting a doormat that says The Fabrays and shouting goodnight to each other through the halls."
"Fine by me." Quinn snorted, "Once this baby arrives, there will be no shouting. Not ever. Not even once. Especially when he or she is sleeping."
"Mm." Santana nodded, "I'll try but I am Latina. And a Lopez. We like to shout."
The blonde raised an eyebrow, "Is that so? Well, then...enjoy your sleep deprivation."
