A/N:
I took a... 6 year hiatus from writing fanfiction. So I may be a bit rusty. Please review and let me know if you want me to write more. Enjoy!
Some things to know: Shelby has always been in Rachel's life, she wasn't raised by her but she wasn't gone from her life. Quinn never had Beth.
Beep, beep.
Rachel's hand quickly slammed down on the blaring alarm clock, begging it for a few more minutes of absolute solitude as she lay in her warm bed. Her wife curled up closer to her noticing the movement.
"Not…ready…to start the day…" Quinn murmured sleepily. She nuzzled into her wife's shoulder as they enjoyed a few minutes in silence. The alarm went off for a second time and Rachel turned it off, slowing sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Quinn whined at the loss of contact and sat up to meet her wife, putting her arms around her and gently massaging her shoulders.
"Gotta get the girls ready. Can't get too comfortable babe," Rachel said turning around and giving her wife a sweet kiss. Quinn rolled her eyes and slowly followed her wife out of bed.
"Good morning to you too…" Quinn quietly groaned, grabbing her robe to put over her pajamas as she went to begin the day.
Rachel walked down the hallway and stopped at Ella's door. She knocked twice before opening it, finding a slightly messy room and a sleeping 13 year old.
"El, time to get up sweetheart," Rachel said sitting down on the edge of the bed, gently moving the hair out of her eyes. Ella opened one eye at her mother and scoffed before closing back her eyes. "Now please," Rachel said, stripping the covers off the blonde. Ella was the spitting image of Quinn 15 years ago. She was starting to develop Quinn's high school attitude too, something that both Quinn and Rachel were not pleased about. Ella groaned as Rachel walked out of the room and nearly ran into Quinn who was peeking in on their middle daughter, Lily. She closed to the door and turned to Rachel.
"I think she should just sleep until 9 and then we can get her up and ready," Quinn whispered and Rachel nodded.
"Good morning El," Quinn said as the miniature version of herself walked by. The girl made some sort of grunting sound and walked into the bathroom shutting the door behind her
"We need to work on that ones attitude," Rachel said. Quinn bit her lip and nodded as the two went into their youngest daughters room.
"Good morning Abba-dabba," Quinn said quietly as to the 6 year old girl as she yawned from her bed. Quinn and Rachel got into bed with her and snuggled, a morning ritual for the family.
Once Abby woke from her sleepy daze, Quinn helped her get her uniform on and did her hair while Rachel began to collect some dirty laundry. Quinn carried Abby out into the hallway and checked that Lily was still sleeping once more.
"Mama why is Lily still sleeping?" Abby whispered, playing with Quinn's necklace that sat on her chest. Lily was normally the first one up, at the breakfast table, and ready for school. Her absence from the morning hustle and bustle was a weird change. The bathroom door swung open and a petite blonde in a preppy school uniform stood before them.
"If Lily is going to school late I want to go late," Ella said putting a hand on her hip. Rachel scoffed as she followed Quinn out of the room.
"No. You're going at the regular time. And drop the attitude Eloise," Rachel said removing her daughters hand from her hip. Ella rolled her eyes even though the use of her full name was a usual threat before getting in trouble. She turned and stormed into the kitchen with Rachel following.
"Lily didn't sleep well last night so she's sleeping so she's rested for her big audition today," Quinn said to Abby as the door to Lily's room opened. Quinn and Abby were met with the miniature Rachel of the family.
"I'm up…Ella is really loud…" the little girl said in between yawns as she slugged into the bathroom and began brushing her teeth
Rachel kept eyeing Lily as she lazily ate her breakfast. She had planned to take her little star to a Broadway audition for a revival of Les Miserables that was looking for their young Cosette. Rachel's previous Broadway debuts in Wicked and Funny Girl gave her incredible connections and her casting director told her about the Les Mis revival and that they wanted Rachel's daughter to try out for it.
"Hey Lil are you sure you don't want to sleep a little later? Your audition isn't until 1:30," Rachel said bringing Abby a bowl of cereal and stopping at Lily's chair.
Lily took a deep breath. She hadn't thought about the audition yet today. Which is truly saying something as it had consumed most of her brain for the last 4 weeks since she's known about it. She had practiced her song with her mom at least 15 times a day, watched multiple videos on the computer of different Young Cosette's and even got her mom to read some of Les Mis to her. She barely understood it but that didn't matter. She was Lillian Celine Berry-Fabray. She wanted to be in this show and she wasn't going to stop for anything. Even lack of sleep.
"I'm fine," Lily said as she yawned. She gulped down her cereal and took her dishes to the sink.
"Honey go lie down and read for a few minutes, I'll be there in a little bit okay?" Rachel said and Lily quietly left the kitchen.
"Why does she always get to miss school?" Ella said as she pulled her phone out of her bag on the table. "She's such a baby. You never let me do that when I was her age."
"Eloise I'm really sick of your tone this morning," Rachel said tiredly, handing Quinn a plate of food. She sat down, exhausted already and nibbled on Quinn's food while reading the paper; just another morning in the Berry-Fabray family.
Rachel peered the door open after the house was empty and found her 8 year old thrown across the bed dramatically, her sisters iPod on her chest and the ear buds in. She was humming along to her audition song and rocking her head back and forth to the beat. Rachel smiled before walking in.
"Lillian," Rachel called in a singsong voice, collecting her daughter's dirty clothes from her hamper. Lily rolled over on her stomach after opening her eyes and seeing her mom. Rachel took the dirty clothes and put them out in the growing pile in the hallway. She came back to the bed and lay down next to her.
"Hi honey," Rachel said taking the ear buds out of Lily's ears. Lily turned and smiled at her mom before looking up at the ceiling.
"What if they don't like me?" Lily whispered. Rachel sat up on one arm and moved a strand of hair from Lily's face.
"What do you mean? Who?" Rachel asked.
"The casting people."
"Directors."
"The casting directors."
"Why would you say they wouldn't like you?" Lily rolled back to give herself momentum to pull herself up.
"I don't know. I think you're the best singer in the world but sometimes you go to auditions and you don't get the part." Lily curled up into her mothers lap and Rachel sighed, reclining back onto the pillows, stroking Lily's hair.
"Don't allow yourself to think like this until afterwards. And how could they not like you, you're adorable and talented. What more could they want?" Rachel smirked. Lily smiled.
"You're my mommy. You have to say that," she said rolling her eyes. While that was true, Rachel wasn't blind to her daughter's natural talent. She claims Lily was just born with it but Quinn says she inherited the love of theater, music and dance from Rachel when she turned 2 and Rachel took her to see The Lion King. Lily was a force to be reckoned with—and she was only eight years old. She started dance classes at age 3, began voice and piano lessons at age 6, and recently started an acting class for kids.
"Shall we practice the song a few times more this morning? Then you're going on vocal rest until we leave," Rachel said standing up and holding her hand out to Lily. Lily nodded and grabbed her music on the side of her bed before grabbing her mother's hand. Rachel led her to their office. It was slowly transforming into the girls hall of fame, however. Trophies, ribbons, plaques and medals from both Ella and Lily's numerous sporting events and recitals lined the walls a long with many photos from all of the events. Abby was starting her very own collection of gymnastics participation ribbons. Rachel knew it wouldn't be long before their youngest was winning all of the meets anyway.
Rachel grabbed the music and led Lily through some warm ups and breathing exercises before going through her song, "Thank You For the Music" from Mamma Mia. After two nearly solid runs Rachel shut the piano off and Lily tried to protest.
"One more time mommy, please?"
"No darling. I want that beautiful voice to rest for the next 3 hours. No whispering too, you know that's worse than yelling." Rachel stood up and kissed her daughter on the head who stomped her foot dramatically on the ground before following her mother out of the office. Lily heard the front door open and instead of just hearing the voice of her momma she heard that and the one of her Aunt.
"Hey," Quinn called from the foyer. Lily darted away from the kitchen and went to greet them.
"Hey pretty lady!" Santana said setting her coffee on the table and leaning down with her arms outreached. Lily ran into her arms and Santana picked up the little girl with ease. "How you doin'?" Lily smiled and gave a thumbs up. Quinn smiled at her daughter.
"Did mommy put you on vocal rest sweetie?" She asked grabbing Santana's coffee and adding it to her carrying case of 3 other drinks. Lily nodded with wide eyes causing both older women to laugh. They wandered into the kitchen to find Rachel yawning as she checked emails on her laptop.
"Need a pick-me-up babe?" Quinn asked handing her wife one of the cups of coffee. Rachel smiled and gave her a kiss on the lips.
"Exactly what I needed," she said taking a sip and kissing Quinn once more.
"Stop making out," Santana joked walking past the couple with Lily on her hip. Lily giggled and Santana set her down on the countertop. Quinn handed Santana her coffee and Lily a smaller coffee cup. Lily looked down at the cup questionably and looked back up at her mom.
"It's steamed apple juice with honey. It's good for your throat." Rachel beamed at her wife and took another sip of her coffee.
"You ready for today Lil?" Santana asked. Lily shrugged and smiled.
"Yes she is," Rachel smiled walking over to Lily and rubbing her back. Lily took a sip of her juice and spun around on the counter, grabbing a pen and a stack of sticky notes. She scribbled "TV?" on it and held it in front of Rachel, who smiled and nodded. Quinn noticed what Lily had done and laughed at the girl. Lily hopped off the counter and skipped into the living room, turning on whatever was playing at 10 in the morning, leaving the 3 adults in the kitchen.
"I think I'm more nervous than both of you combined for this audition," Quinn confessed after Lily was out of the kitchen.
Rachel playfully frowned and walked behind her wife, gently massaging her shoulders.
"Relax babe, she's more than ready. I promise," Rachel said quietly. Santana smiled at the two lovebirds.
"How's Britt?" Rachel asked working her way down her wife's back. Santana smiled and stared at Rachel without saying anything. Rachel and Quinn both navigated their eyes to her.
"She's…great. She's really great," Santana said, showing her 1000 watt smile.
"What….does that mean?" Quinn asked grabbing Rachel's hands from her shoulders and holding them.
"HOLY CRAP ARE YOU PREGNANT?" Rachel yelled, dropping Quinn's hands. Santana laughed and nodded.
"Well I'm not, but Britt is!" The girls jumped up and hugged each other.
"Oh I'm so excited for you guys!" Rachel said. They continued talking for the better part of an hour as Santana and Quinn both had the morning off from work.
A few hours later everyone had been fed lunch and Quinn and Santana both went to work. Both women worked at the same local clinic, Quinn as a pediatrician and Santana as a physical therapist. Rachel was cleaning up the kitchen and starting to get frazzled. Wednesday's were always a little crazy. She had to pick Abby up from school, take her to Kurt and Blaine's, take Lily to her audition, drop her off at ballet, and go to her moms' loft where she taught voice lessons for 3 hours. Then Quinn would pick all the girls up and they would all have dinner at Shelby's house.
"Lil can you go wash up, get dressed and comb your hair please?" Rachel called into the living room. Lily looked over at her mom from the couch and nodded, turning off the television and going into her room.
Lily came out 15 minutes later in the Rachel approved audition outfit. Rachel pulled Lily's hair into a pony-tail and gently put her hands on her daughters shoulders.
"You ready baby?" She said. Lily took a deep breath and put on her show face. She turned and faced her mother, smiling.
"Yes," she said finally speaking since her practice this morning. The two of them grabbed their coats and other items and headed out onto the road.
After dropping Abby and Kurt and Blaine's son Trevor off at Kurt and Blaine's and dropping off Ella's practice clothes she had left at home, Rachel drove over to the office building where Lily's audition would be. She tried to prepare her little star the best she could but she herself was getting nervous. When they pulled into the parking lot Rachel noticed they were 30 minutes early. Perfect. Just enough time to check in, calm down, and mentally prepare. Rachel, snap out of it. This isn't your audition.
Lily was quiet for the car ride—more from nerves than trying to save her voice. Her mother was Broadway royalty. She was only 8, she didn't know much, but she knew that her mom was basically famous. Sometimes cameras took pictures of her family when they went out to eat. She had a lot to live up to.
Before they knew it Lily was sitting in a chair, rocking her legs back and forth. There were quite a few other young girls with their mothers at this audition. Rachel could tell Lily was beginning to panic slightly. She and Rachel had found a deserted hallway and Lily had gone through her song without mistakes. She was ready.
"Lillian?" the woman at the door called. Lily stood up quickly and looked at her mom. Rachel beamed at her little girl.
"Break a leg honey," Rachel said quickly kissing her daughter on the forehead and gently pushing her with her music, headshot, and resume into the audition room. She spied her old casting director who caught her eye and gave Rachel a comforting wink as Lily walked in the room. Rachel smiled as the door closed and let out a deep breath.
Quinn said good-bye to a patient and pulled her phone out of her coat pocket. She had 4 text messages from Rachel.
"ok she just went in. I saw jeff, he winked. What does a wink mean? Oh q I'm so nervous for her."
"they applauded for a while… they haven't clapped for that long for anyone so far this morning."
"they are laughing. I wonder if she made a joke."
"she's done. thank god. she seems pretty happy but says she messed up on one word in her song. See you tonight, have a good day at work babe xoxo"
Quinn smiled at the messages and picturing her wife sitting in a chair bouncing her leg up and down, frantically waiting for her daughter to emerge from the audition room. She looked up and saw a nurse tending to her next patient so she quickly replied:
"Tell Lil I'm so proud of her and can't wait to hear about it tonight. Love you xox"
"Momma says she is very proud of you and can't wait for you to tell her about it tonight at dinner," Rachel said reading the message to Lily as they rode the elevator down to the parking lot.
"Mommy the man in the room said he knew you. He said he cast you in Wicked," Lily said, her face pressed against the window of the outdoor elevator they were currently riding, watching the city of Manhattan come closer to her feet.
"Yes, that's Jeff. He's very good friends with Nana too."
"And they asked me how many times I saw Wicked and I said I saw it like 100 times and then I told them the story of how you forgot to take your make-up off after your matinee and left it on all night and nobody told you and then they all laughed." Rachel gazed down at her little girl with narrowed eyes.
"Oh so you were laughing at me, were you?" Rachel raised an eyebrow. Lily giggled as the elevator chimed to the bottom level. Rachel grabbed her daughters hand and they walked to the car. So maybe they spent the majority of the audition raving about Rachel but if it made Lily stand out, Rachel was okay with that.
"Alright Lil we gotta speed you over to ballet. Momma will pick you up and then I'll see you at Nana's. She's making your favorite veggie lasagna tonight just for you as a congratulations," Rachel said as they buckled into the car.
"Mommy don't jinx it! I haven't gotten the part!" Lily exclaimed carefully removing her outer layer of clothing that hid her ballet tights and leotard. Rachel rolled her eyes. She saw the faces of the casting people once the door opened. She knew Lily had gotten it—without a doubt. That's how they do things in the Berry-Fabray family. They get what they want and they don't hold back.