"Quinn?...Quinn? Where are you?"

Matt was searching the vast opens spaces on the first floor of his huge new house. He didn't really like the big new house; he liked their old apartment in New York. The apartment was by no means small, but this new house felt like a castle. Matt was never the type for flashy things but Quinn insisted that they move to Florida after their youngest child graduated college. And by "insisted" she meant "if you ever plan on having sex with me again you better do as I say."

"What is it honey?" Quinn appeared on the second floor balcony still looking like an angel even though she had just celebrated the 10th anniversary of her 50th birthday.

"The TV won't do what I want it to do." Matt wrinkled his eyebrows in confusion.

"Oh baby I'm sorry. Does technology scare caveman?" Quinn cooed with sarcasm.

"How quickly she forgets that it was my caveman athletic prowess that paid for this kingdom." Matt professed to an invisible audience.

"Hold on ya big baby I'll be down in a second."

Quinn got into the elevator to go down to the first floor. It was extravagant and completely unnecessary to have an elevator in a house, but it was her favorite part of the house. When she became pregnant in high school, Quinn thought she would never get the life she dreamed of. But then Matt happened like a knight in shining armor to save her from becoming a Lima Loser. They didn't plan on dating, they just started out as friends, but they quickly became more. She didn't understand why he wanted to marry her so quickly. She thought the last thing a young football player going to the NFL would want was a fiancé, but Matt seemed so sure during his proposal that she couldn't say no.

"Ya see? It's doing this weird blue thing and it keeps asking me about installing a virtual set. What the hell is a virtual set?" Matt was growing very impatient with the very expensive piece of machinery that was currently mocking him.

"It's virtual reality. You know remember how 3D was the big deal for us way back when. Now there's virtual reality," Quinn explained.

"Yeah, like that movie we saw a few days ago. Can we get that movie on here?"

"I don't know maybe. Now remember, if you want to watch TV you have to slide the TV window into the drop box in the virtual panel like so," Quinn demonstrated with ease.

"Why can't we just go back to using remotes?"

"Just practice with it a few times and then-"

The two were hit with a wall of sound as the television switched itself to MTV. Their aging ears were not ready for the unpleasant screeching coming from the TV.

"What the hell? This damn thing is possessed!" Matt yelled as he covered his ears.

Quinn quickly turned down the volume on the control panel.

"I believe that was Starlica, one of Jocelyn's favorites."

"She gets her crappy taste in music from you," Matt huffed as he collapsed on the couch.

Quinn curled up next to him and rested her head on his chest.

"You know what this reminds me of Matt? Our first apartment when you were playing for Tampa."

"Yeah I remember that. I was trying to figure out the new sound system and it ended up blasting crappy music for a half hour until I broke it with a hammer."

"As I recall that was my brand new Taylor Swift CD that got destroyed during your temper tantrum. And she is not crappy," Quinn huffed with fake anger.

"You identified with her way too much in high school."

"Her music got me through some of the most painful times in my life…and you used that as a weapon to make fun of me. Whenever we got into a fight you would always say "Yo Quinn imma let you finnish but my side of the argument was the best argument of all time."

"Of all time!" Matt shouted the last line of the story before he started tickling his wife. She hated when he did that because she was without a doubt the most ticklish person in the world.

"Stop this right now!" Quinn Rutherford hated that her husband knew all these little quirks about her. Her parents had set a poor example; she had no idea what a loving relationship between two people could be. She suspected that all couples got sick of each other and all men cheated eventually, but Matt seemed to break all the rules.

"We should spend the whole day like this," Matt said with a yawn.

"I wish we could but we can't. We have a ton of boxes that need to be unpacked."

"Dang woman, can't we just be old people for a few hours and not do anything."

"Speak for yourself geezer. I'm unpacking everything and then I'm going for a walk on our beach."

/

Matt was unpacking and putting away clothes in their new bedroom while Quinn was lugging boxes up the stairs. Matt suggested that they trade jobs but Quinn was determined to carry all the boxes since Matt just went through another painful knee surgery. While carrying one of the smaller boxes, she noticed some very precious cargo.

"Oh my gosh…Matt look at this!" Quinn held up a very small jersey with tears in her eyes.

"Junior's first football jersey…I can't believe how tiny that kid used to be."

"He was my little munchkin. Then he hit puberty and turned him into a Sasquatch."

"That kid would have been an absolute monster if he had stuck with football."

"He wanted to be a chef and I'm glad he is doing what makes him happy. Besides, he's still my baby and I didn't want people to treat him like some beast of burden."

"I get that Quinn and I'm really happy that he followed his dreams. But part of me still wonders what it would have been like to have a Rutherford sports dynasty. The pundits would say "Matt Jr. wearing the same number as Matt Sr., what a legacy." But I guess it wasn't meant to be."

All Quinn had to do was raise one eyebrow before they both started laughing.

"Really Matt? Are you going to have a breakdown because your successful son wasn't successful in the field you wanted him to be in? Jr. owns restaurants, writes cookbooks, and hosts infomercials. Plus, he's never had to have major knee surgery."

"I know, I know, I'm being dramatic and unreasonable. It's all that damn singing I did in glee club. I caught a minor case of the gay and now I'm just a sensitive emotional wreck."

Quinn threw one of the empty boxes at his head and he charged at her and lifted her up on his shoulders.

"Put me down old man!" Quinn squealed, her face turning a bright shade of red.

"No way Q, we're taking a break from unpacking to enjoy having a house to ourselves again. I think it's time we tested out our new bedroom."

/

It was getting late and the Rutherfords decided to take a walk on their private beach. Not bad for two kids from a small town in Ohio.

"Let's head back in. I'm going to try and make peace with the TV."

"Careful Matt, sky-net might still be hunting you."

"No Quinn I think the war was avoided. Too bad because I would have been a kick ass freedom fighter."

"I know you would have Mattie."

Matt did manage to turn the TV on and get it to ESPN just in time to catch the tail end of a story about him. He immediately put it on mute as Quinn looked up inquisitively from her palm computer. Matt could feel hazel eyes glaring at him over a pair of reading glasses.

"What?"

"Why do you hate praise so much?"

"I just don't want to be in the public eye anymore. I thought the hall of fame ceremony would be the end of the attention and I could get back to being me again."

"You should have thought about that before you became General Manager of the Dolphins."

"Just because I don't want attention doesn't mean I don't need a job."

"Matt we're fine. We have more than enough money. We would have more if you would stop giving Beth handouts."

Matt cast his eyes down in embarrassment.

"Who told you?"

Quinn held up her palm computer.

"A little birdie told me. I get e-mail notifications every time money is taken out of our account you knucklehead."

"She was going to get evicted Quinn."

"For God's sake Matt she's in her mid 40's! She has to learn to sink or swim on her own."

"I know."

"Do you? Because I don't think you would be this patient with Jocelyn, Matt Jr., or Samantha."

"You're right I wouldn't. But that's because we spoiled them their entire lives and they don't need any more help."

"Beth had a great life with Shelby."

"I'm sure she did. But part of me feels guilty that we were blessed with this picture perfect family and she was left on the outside looking in."

"We all tried Matt, you especially. We did the best we could to make her feel welcome. I hated myself for losing all those years with her and telling our children that they had an older sister from a different father. I wish I could change things but I can't, she isn't a kid anymore and you can't treat her like one."

"She called me Papa Matt. I'm pretty much powerless when she does that."

"Thank goodness I'm not a gold-digger or else I would have taken you to the cleaner's kind sir," Quinn said with a smirk.

"We took an elevator down to the first floor to take a walk on our private beach…I think you wrote the book on gold-digging."

Quinn was searching for something to throw at him and Matt laughed when she couldn't find anything that she wouldn't mind breaking. One of the draw backs of having nice things is that it is harder to find cheap stuff to throw at your husband.

"I am the mother of your children, I deserve nice things. Plus, gold digging books aren't the type of books I write."

"Yeah you write ones about girls being tortured in high school. Why hasn't Rachel demanded a royalty check from you yet?"

"Because, like I explained to you before, my works of fiction are based on my observations. The inspirations for my characters don't come from any one person," Quinn said rather smugly.

"The main character of your most popular book series was named Barbara Peach and people threw fruit smoothies at her," Matt rebutted.

"Like I said, my inspiration comes from a wide range of events. That's my story and I am sticking to it."

"You never give an inch do you Q?"

"Nope, isn't that what you love about me," Quinn said sarcastically.

Matt moved closer to her and wrapped his arms around her.

"That's one of the many things I love about you. I know you don't like mushy stuff, but that's really how I feel about you."

"Did you always feel this way?" Quinn questioned.

"Yes."

"Then why didn't you say anything sooner. Think of all the drama we could have avoided if we had found each other sooner."

"Well you were pretty much untouchable in high school Quinn. The only guys that you let get close to you were Finn…and Puck. And I don't care if it took us a little bit longer to get together; the point is that we found each other. And I know Beth gets on your nerves, but I'm glad you gave birth to her, and I know you are glad too."

"Of course I am, I love her to pieces. But I must insist, no more bailing her out."

There she goes with that "insisting" stuff again.

"Yes ma'am."

"Good. Now let's go to bed, it's been a very tiring day."