Prequel to "My Girls" (and essentially "Puppy").
--January 2018 - August 2019--
Quinn and Rachel always avoided stating out loud that their lives couldn't be any more perfect. They didn't say it because they might jinx something but both of them thought it almost every day. Quinn was finishing up her second year teaching third grade at a very nice private elementary school and Rachel was assistant directing a brand new Broadway production she would have starred in had she and Quinn not decided that it was time to expand their family. Allie was eight and attending the school Quinn was teaching at free of charge because that was one of Quinn's fantastic employment benefits. Brittany and Santana had just moved to the city while Santana finished her law degree at NYU which meant girls nights when Allie was at a friend's or with Puck. Rachel and Quinn had a fairly spacious apartment in the city but they were saving to buy a house. They already had the neighborhood picked out and everything was planned perfectly using charts and timelines that Rachel put together and Quinn couldn't decipher without the help of a rocket scientist.
In January they'd picked out the sperm donor. In February one of each of their eggs was harvested and fertilized and implanted. They were ecstatic when they found out that the procedure took and Rachel was due in September. In their long term plan, after Rachel had recovered from the pregnancy she would go back to work and they would save up enough to make a down payment on a nice house outside the major part of the city. Things would be tight for a while but they knew what they could cut out of the budget to make it work.
It was a Friday in the middle of May, there were fifteen days of school left before Quinn went on summer vacation and Allie went to Lima to stay with Puck. Seven years ago if anyone had told Quinn that Allie would be perfectly safe staying with Puck for a month and a half, Quinn would have laughed. But after high school Puck got his act together and graduated top of his class from the Columbus Police Academy. While he was there he met and married Anna, who was attending OSU at the time. They moved back to Lima and Puck started working for the police department and Anna was selling real estate.
The day their perfect lives were broken was a day that Quinn would remember as quite possibly the most heartbreaking, terrifying day of her life. She was reviewing multiplication with her kids when the phone in her classroom rang. She told them to practice on their own while she took the call.
"Ms. Fabray's class," she answered.
"Quinn, you've got an urgent call on the line," the receptionist, Jane, replied.
"I can take it. Thank you." There was a click while the call was transferred. "This is Quinn Fabray, how can I help you?"
"Ms. Fabray, my name is Derek, I'm calling from St. Luke's Roosevelt Emergency Department. We have your partner, Rachel Berry, here."
Quinn's heart dropped to the floor. She did her best to keep her composure in front of her students.
"I'll be there as soon as I can," she said. She hung up the phone and dialed the front office. She quietly explained her situation and the principal himself came in to watch Quinn's classroom while they waited for the substitute so Quinn could go to the hospital.
When she got there she was taken to Rachel's room and she took a deep breath before stepping inside. Rachel was asleep. Quinn sat on the edge of the bed and brushed away the strands of hair that had fallen out of Rachel's ponytail. She kissed the tan girl's forehead.
"Rachel," Quinn whispered. "Rachel, baby, please wake up."
Rachel groaned and opened her eyes. Quinn kissed her forehead again.
"Quinn?"
"I'm here sweetie, I'm right here." Quinn's heart almost broke when she saw Rachel's eyes go wide and fill with tears.
"I'm so sorry Quinn."
"What? Why?"
Rachel swallowed hard and looked down at her stomach. Quinn's eyes followed and she slipped a hand over the hospital gown. "I…Quinn…I lost it," Rachel sobbed.
Quinn's heart shattered. She wrapped her arms around Rachel and the brunette sobbed into her shoulder. Rachel's fingers gripped tight to her shirt and she just cried.
"Rachel…Rachel it's okay. It'll be okay, I promise."
"I'm s-so s-sorry."
"It's not your fault, Rach." Quinn pulled away and cupped Rachel's face in her hands. "You have nothing to be sorry for, understand?"
"I-I don't even know wh-what I d-did wrong!"
Quinn pulled her back in and kissed her temple. "You didn't do anything wrong," she whispered.
"It just…it just happened. I was standing there and there was pain and…God, Quinn! Why?! Why now?!"
"I don't know, Rach. I don't know."
The doctor explained it bluntly. While Rachel may have been in great physical condition from all of the dance and healthy amounts of exercise she was getting, some women's bodies just can't handle the stress of a pregnancy. Rachel was one of them. He talked about hormones and stress and made sure to reiterate several times that it was in no way Rachel's fault and all of her records showed she couldn't have made better decisions during the pregnancy and she had done everything correctly.
The part Quinn knew would hurt the worst was telling Allie. Quinn called Brittany from the hospital and asked her to pick the young girl up from school and keep her for the night because the doctors wanted to keep Rachel in for observation. Brittany of course agreed and they knew Santana would as well. Quinn took Rachel home the next afternoon with the names of three different counselors. Rachel had barely spoken a word. Quinn asked Brittany and Santana to keep Allie another night. Quinn spent most of the time in bed with Rachel trying to reassure her that everything would be okay.
Sunday afternoon Santana dropped Allie off and Quinn could only hug her when she started firing off questions.
"Aunt Brittany said Mom's sick. Why's she sick?"
Quinn took Allie's hand and pulled her to the couch. Allie hopped up in the middle and Quinn took an edge and turned to face her daughter.
"You know how we've been talking a lot about the baby growing inside her?"
Allie nodded. "You said that's why her pants don't fit right anymore."
Quinn couldn't help but smile a little. "That's right, but…" Quinn took a deep breath. The pamphlet she'd been given at the hospital about how to explain a miscarriage to young children said to be direct and clear. "Mom doesn't have the baby anymore because it died, sweetie. Mom is going to be fine, but you're not going to have a baby brother or sister, okay?"
Allie blinked a few times and Quinn held her breath. "Mark Stone said that's what happened to his grandpa; that he died. He said his mom said that it's because his body stopped working."
"That's what happens, yeah. Sometimes we don't know why but that's just what happened. But I want you to understand that it's no one's fault and no one did anything wrong, alright?"
"I understand."
"Do you have any questions?"
Allie pondered for a minute. It was the exact same look that Rachel got on her face when she was thinking hard, Quinn noticed. "Does the baby go to heaven?"
"Yeah, it does sweetie."
"Okay. Good. Mark said that's where his grandpa went and I met him once when he came to our class to tell us stories and he was nice so it's good the baby will be around nice people."
"I'm sure it will be."
"Is it okay that I'm sad?"
"Whatever you feel is just fine. I'm sad, too and so is Mom and that is perfectly okay." Quinn reached forward and brushed her daughter's hair away from her face.
"Can I see Mom?"
"I'll go see if she's awake." Quinn gave her daughter a quick hug before going down the hall to her and Rachel's bedroom. She opened the door quietly and peeked in. Rachel was sitting up in bed with a small stack of sonogram pictures in her hands. Quinn slipped inside and shut the door.
"Rachel?"
"This is all we'll ever have," Rachel sighed.
Quinn sat down on the bed and faced the brunette. She reached forward and brushed away the tears that had escaped Rachel's eyes. "We can try again, you know? You know I'll do it, Rachel."
"We can't afford it."
"We can if we wait a while."
"The plan, Quinn…"
"Plans change, Rachel. Your high school plans never involved helping me raise Allie. Mine certainly didn't involve getting pregnant and falling in love with you and moving here after high school to live with your cousins while going to school. We can change these plans."
"How's Allie?" Rachel sniffled.
"I talked to her about it. She said she's sad but she understands what's going on. She's worried about you."
"Did you tell her I'm fine?"
"Yeah. She knows you're sad, though."
Rachel sighed. Quinn scooted around next to her and wrapped her arms around Rachel's waist.
"Have you thought anymore about maybe seeing one of the therapists the doctor recommended?"
"One came and talked to me while you were having lunch at the hospital yesterday. I didn't feel any better after talking to her. I knew everything she said already. It's not my fault, I can't blame myself, all of that. I think if I just start working again and have something else to focus on it'll be fine."
"You know you can talk to me, right?"
Rachel reached up and traced Quinn's jaw with her fingertips. "I know. I love you."
"I love you too, Rach."
It was hard for a while. Quinn packed up all of the baby things they had bought or been given and Brittany and Santana stored them in their spare bedroom. They took Allie to Lima right after school let out and spent a few days with Rachel's dads and when they got back they spent a few days just being together. Rachel went back to work and took over the lead of the play she had been assistant directing after the actress got a better offer to do it in London. Rachel had an accountant friend take a look at their finances and with the money they had saved in the baby fund combined with their savings for a house and the projection of Rachel's salary they had enough for a house that was on the market in their dream neighborhood. They moved in right before the school year started.
Although their lives went back to being what could only be described as perfect, Quinn still caught Rachel looking at the sonogram pictures on occasion but she could tell at the same time that Rachel was genuinely happy because she was on stage again and the play was a hit. The hours were long for Rachel and Quinn missed having her around for dinner but when Rachel would wake her up when she got home from a particularly good performance the celebration outweighed the missed dinner.
When a neighbor's yellow lab had puppies they adopted one and let Allie name it. She named it Dorothy because Puck and Anna had sent her home with a DVD of The Wizard of Oz at the end of her time with them that summer and it was her new obsession. Rachel raided the wardrobe at the theater and for Halloween Allie was Dorothy, Quinn was Glinda, and Rachel was the Wicked Witch of the West.
Time flew by and soon enough, Allie was nine and Rachel's show was breaking records. Quinn never mentioned the fact that they were in more than a better position to try for kids again. She wanted Rachel to make the first move and so the blonde waited patiently. Santana graduated third in her class and landed a job immediately meaning she and Brittany were going to stay in the city. All five of them had a girl's spa day to celebrate before Allie went to Lima for the summer.
The night Quinn got back from meeting Puck and Anna halfway to drop off Allie for the summer she was met with two glasses of champagne and a kiss from Rachel.
"I missed you, too," Quinn said when Rachel wrapped an arm around her waist and started kissing down her neck.
Two hours later the sheets were tangled, Quinn and Rachel were sweating, clothes were strewn everywhere and they were both in a state of pure bliss. Rachel pressed a kiss to Quinn's sternum and trailed her tongue up to the blonde's collarbone where a mark was showing up. She pressed a kiss to it and Quinn sighed contentedly.
"I've been thinking about something," Rachel whispered, nuzzling her nose into Quinn's neck.
"Hm?"
"I want you to quit your job."
Quinn arched up one eyebrow and looked down at Rachel. "Why?"
"Because…because I don't want you under any stress."
"I'm not under any stress, Rach."
"I want a baby."
Quinn blinked a few times and let her brain process what Rachel had said. When it finally registered she smiled wide and Rachel mirrored her. "Really?"
"Yes, really."
Quinn giggled and rolled over on top of Rachel. She kissed the brunette deep and Rachel smiled again when they pulled apart.
"You realize that this won't get you pregnant, right?" Rachel giggled.
"Can't hurt to try."
Quinn declined her offered contract for the next school year. Rachel aggressively researched the arts departments at schools that were closer to their neighborhood and finally found one she approved of for Allie to attend.
They saw the same doctor they'd seen with Rachel and agreed again on one egg from each of them and found a suitable donor. The procedure was done in July. Three weeks after it they dropped Allie off at Brittany's dance studio for class and went to the nearest drugstore and then back home. Quinn tapped her fingers on the bathroom sink while they waited for the two different tests. Rachel checked the countdown timer on her phone every thirty seconds. When her phone beeped they stared at each other.
"You ready?" Quinn asked.
Rachel nodded. "You?"
Quinn nodded and they turned their attention to the plastic sticks on the countertop. Rachel grabbed one, Quinn grabbed the other.
"Plus sign," Rachel whispered.
"Two pink lines."
The sticks hit the countertop with a clatter when they were dropped and there was no space between the two women as lips collided and tongues fought for dominance.
"How much…time…until…Allie?" Rachel gasped between kisses.
"Hour."
The brunette grabbed Quinn's wrist and dragged her to the bedroom. Life couldn't have been more perfect.