Title: The Christmas Elf
Rating: M for Mature audiences.
Fandom: Glee
Pairings/Characters: Beth, Quinn/Rachel, Santana/Brittany and Kurt/Blaine
Genre: Romance and Family
Summary: Struggling to make ends meet and give her daughter the Christmas she deserves, Quinn Fabray take the job as personal driver and assistant to Broadway Queen and A-list star, Rachel Berry. Will love blossom under the twinkling light of New York, or will they burn out before they even ignite. This story is A/U, with Faberry and Beth as the main characters.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot belong to the respective author. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
The Christmas Elf
Quinn Fabray looked through Saturday's paper, red pen firmly tucked in between fingers, eyes moving agilely through the Jobs Classified section. She had narrowed her search by crossing off, with her trusty red pen, all night and evening jobs. She couldn't work at night not when she had a five year old waiting for her, and no money for a babysitter. She had let her babysitter, Tina, go when her daughter, started kindergarten. Though, she missed her daughter in the days, she couldn't help but be relieved at the money she save by letting Tina go.
She paid Tina whatever she earned in tips for that day; which averaged out to about thirty to forty dollars by working twelve to eight at Harry's Diner. With minimum wage being 7.25 an hour in New York and her working eight, or sometimes nine hours a day, she made – on a good month – twelve hundred. After rent, utilities and food, she was lucky to have twenty dollars in her pocket. That left over twenty was for her to usually treat Beth to either McDonalds or a toy. By not giving Tina her tips, she had a little extra money in her pocket to buy Beth and her new jackets from a thrift shop, shoes, some winter outfits and heavier blankets for the upcoming winter season, knowing she won't be using the heater all that much. That was until Mr. Harry announced he was retiring, sold that diner, and everyone was out of the job by the end of November – just before the holidays started. Fan – fucking – tastic.
Rent and utilities were paid for the month of December, but beyond that, she didn't know. She had thirty dollars to her name, and that was for milk, bread, peanut butter, romen noodles and cheese. They would be living off of peanut butter sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches and romen noodles for the rest of the month. She had to find a job as soon as possible. She hoped to get lucky with the holiday season coming. She knew that lots of stores hired seasonal positions, sometimes letting them stay on if they're good enough.
Returning back to the task at hand, Quinn crossed out all the porn, sex-caller and stripper ads. Along with any weird, questionable ads, anything needing a college degree or experience beyond what she had. That left her with a pretty good size selection for jobs to look at.
Pen posed at the newspaper, she began to read off the available jobs.
"Dog Walker," she murmured, rolling her eyes at the bold and capital 'MUST LOVE DOGS'. "Dog walker needed. Pet-sitter/walker experience desired, but not needed. Job entitles walking our two year old greyhound, Lulu and our eight month old Newfoundland, Sasha. Looking for 30min/an hour walks. 20 dollars/per day." Sighing, she crossed of the dog walking job offer. To be honest, she had made up her mind when she saw greyhound and Newfoundland. There was no way in hell she was going to be walking a horse-like dog and a bear-like dog down the streets of Manhattan.
Moving on she read the next on her list. "Host/Hostess needed for a popular bar/night…nope," she said, popping the 'p' and drawling a big red X on the ad. She had quickly found out those were hidden strip joints.
For the next hour, she went through the list of job ads, leaving her with two available options: A Christmas Elf worker at Macy's and a dishwasher at Applebee's. Either job will work for her. Both paid more than minimum wage and gave benefits – something she never had before. But out of the two, she really hoped to get the dishwasher job. It was for full-time, offering a permanent position, benefits and eight dollars an hour. Working as an elf at Macy would just be a constant reminder that Christmas was around the corner, and she was unable, yet again, to give her daughter the Christmas again. Plus, the job was only for a month. She needed something a little longer.
Beth was five now. She understood and now wanted gifts her friends at school wanted. Before her little girl was content with small one dollar gifts and a little chocolate, but now, she wanted a Disney Princess Dollhouse, playdoh, the new Barbie and a bike to ride while they went to the park every Sunday. It breaks her heart that she can't give her daughter what she wants. She wonders if she ever will be able to.
Wiping away her fallen tears, Quinn reached for the phone, first dialing the number for Applebee's. She wanted to get a chance at that job as soon as possible.
"Hi, thank you for calling Applebee's. How may I help you?" a cheery, young female voice for the other line asked.
"Hi, I'm calling for the dishwasher job ad," Quinn started only to be cut off by the hostess.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but the job offer is no longer available," the girl said in a faux apologetic voice. "Our manger position is available, though. Are you interested in that?"
Quinn sighed, her hopes dashed. "No, thank you. Have a nice day." Ending the call, she found the number for the elf position. It didn't take long for someone to answer. "Hi, I'm calling for the elf position. I was wondering if the job is still available."
"Can you stand for long hours?" A bored, deep male voice asked.
"Yes," Quinn said hesitantly. She had never had a job interview over the phone.
"Are you good around children?"
"Yes, I am. I have a five year old daughter."
"Can you work from the hour's nine to three?"
Quinn couldn't help but get excited. "Yes, sir," she answered a little too enthusiastic.
"You start Monday, December third, at nine. The day after tomorrow. Arrive an hour early so you have time to stop by H.R. Have a nice day."
Quinn squealed when she hung up. She had a job – a good job at that. It wasn't one she had wanted, however, it will do. The job at Macy's paid nine dollars an hour, working seven days a week, benefits and store discount. The job was only for the month; plenty time to find another job, pay rent and utilities, groceries and, hopefully, give Beth the Christmas she wants to give her daughter.
TBC?
Information for this story:
I don't know how you go about getting a job as an elf, but my friend worked for one when she was in high school, and she told me this was how they hired her. They were in dire need of a new elf.
Yes, the chapters from here on out will be longer. They'll be around 2000 words to more.
Updates should come, hopefully, a couple of times a week, but I don't have an actual schedule. And this is a work-in-progress with only a couple of chapters written ahead of time. I'll shoot for one update a week, making the second a treat. I do want to finish this by the New Year.
There won't be that much angst. I only have one or two incidents where there is angst, and it isn't that heart wrenching to where you want to pull your beating heart out. I don't really have the heart to write heavy angst for a Christmas story. It's going to be short and sweet, just like those cheesy Hallmark/Lifetime Christmas movies. Next time though, beware.
I don't really have an idea how many chapters I plan on writing, but all my story don't go no more than twenty five. Well…I try to plan it that way. They somehow get ahead of me, and I end up with more I imagined.
This is A/U (Alternative Universe), meaning Rachel and Quinn will be OOC (Out Of Character). They have different storylines than what glee created for them. Although, I am using some of their plot points.
In this story I have Quinn at 22. She got pregnant at 16, had Beth by seventeen. Yes, Puck is the father. Rachel – and I tried to change it, but Betty (my muse) just wouldn't let me – is twenty-six going on twenty-seven.
And as always, review. I'd love to hear from you.