A/N: Hey there! First I'd like to say that I've been absent because my computer is damage for good now. But it's the last faberry week and I wanted to give my contribution, I'm about to get a new computer, I'm not sure when, but as soon as I get one I'll update my stories. I wrote this one shot that is part of the 'A night to regret' verse and it takes place after 'every little thing' and 'another midnight kiss'. You don't have to necessarily read those stories though. I guess…
"Baby?"
It's second nature to her, whenever she hears this voice, especially when Quinn uses the sweetness that is reserved only for her, she has to stop whatever she is doing at the moment just to focus on her wife.
"Mm?" Rachel says partially distracted now as her mind was wandering just seconds ago, she's still looking out the window though.
Currently, the Berry-Fabray family is in a car heading off to a TV studio and Quinn noticed how her wife seems a little bit uneasy if Rachel's restless foot as she moves it back and forth is any indication.
"Are you okay?"
Rachel finally turns to face her wife and with a barely there smile on her face, she nods ever so slightly.
"You seem uneasy." Quinn states.
"I'm not-" She starts but stops mid-sentence. "Honey what are you doing? Stop that." Rachel addresses to her daughter as Toni is bringing the car's window down just to bring it up again.
The younger brunette stops her motions, huffs and crosses her arms over her chest petulantly, only to uncross it as Quinn looks at her disapprovingly.
"She is impatient." Quinn points out calmly as she turns to Rachel. "So do you, are you sure you're okay?"
"I not impatient." Ben says happily as his sister rolls her eyes at him and presses her forehead on the window in boredom.
"You're my gentleman." Quinn wraps her arms tightly around her son and squeezes the boy on her lap as he giggles in joy.
Rachel watches the scene, stroking her wife's shoulder length's blonde hair. Loosening her hold on her son, Quinn leans toward her wife and pecks Rachel's lips sweetly to then stare at the brunette expectantly.
"Okay, I'm little bit concerned." Rachel admits.
"It's just a TV show baby and it's Brittany, she won't do anything to get you uncomfortable."
Rachel narrows her eyes at her wife and Quinn smiles knowingly.
"Maybe a little, but not too much."
After Amy was born, Brittany decided to put her career as a dancer on hold, she was 31 years old. She loves to dance but they couldn't keep their crazy routine with Brittany going in tours around the world with some pop star who had been recruited her at the moment and Santana doing the same with her shows. They had a daughter to take care.
She didn't retire completely until a year ago when she received a very interesting proposition to work on TV. Being home with her daughter, she kind of brought back an old hit, only as Santana Lopez's wife her audience was a little larger than before and fondue for two turned out to be a huge web success. Because of this, she signed a contract with a major TV channel and since the beginning her show has a respectable audience. Her show's highest rating? It was when Santana was her guest months ago.
And now, after lots of pleadings, she finally convinced her best friends to be her guests.
"I suppose it could be worse." Rachel says smirking.
"How?"
"Well, imagine Santana hosting a TV show…"
"Baby don't be ridiculous why would anyone give Santana a TV show?" Quinn points out playfully.
"Yeah… probably not." Rachel giggles.
"We're here." Toni informs eager to get out of the car, her fondness for the stardom hasn't diminished at all, and she loves how star-struck people get around them. Living in Los Angeles has been incredible so far to her, sure she loves the glamour, but she also likes that she has lots of space now and a house is way better than an apartment, specially a glamorous big mansion.
"And now it's my pleasure to introduce you guys my very, very special guests!"
Brittany announces playfully. For this part of the show, she gets in the classic table for the host and armchairs for the guests set up.
"One of them is America's most beautiful face-" She stops playfully. "That is, aside from my beautiful wife." She adds as the audience cheers and laughs. "She is a very talented actress and an Oscar winner you guys!" She beams. "But seriously, to me she is one of the strongest women I know, she is beautiful and she is here, Quinn Fabray everyone!"
Quinn walks toward her best friend with a large smile on her face as Brittany stands up and the audience cheers. They hug each other fondly for a moment before they sit.
"Hey! That's so awesome. Thank you for being here."
"Of course B, oh my God, I'm so happy for you." She looks at the audience. "I'm really excited that I'm here."
"Thanks. So… I said Quinn Fabray." She smiles and turns to the camera. "But you all know that she is now Berry-Fabray."
She says joyfully and Quinn smiles from ear to year.
They are out of course, they have been for awhile now, but they were never really fond of too much exposure. Some red carpet here and there, Quinn's passionate acceptance speech at the Oscar, and a few inconvenient questions in interviews was all they have given to the media till now. Of course that's official stuff; they do have to deal with the paparazzi and the speculations from the gossip magazines once and while, especially now that they are living in L.A.
"Speaking of Berry, I do have another guest."
"You do?" Quinn inquires jokingly.
"Of course I have."
"Can I introduce her?"
"Be my guest." Brittany gestures her hands playfully as the audience laughs at the pun.
"Well…" Quinn puts her hands together and turns to the camera. "She is incredibly talented and this fact is further proven by her two Tonys and her countless successful Broadway's shows, she has the greatest voice of her generation." She smiles scheming. "She is also the mother of my children and the love of my life."
She pauses for suspense as the audience goes wild.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Miss Rachel Berry."
Flawless hair and a dress that does nothing to hide her gorgeous legs, Rachel walks with her high heels toward the other two women.
"Hi." She hugs Brittany tight and sits next to her wife, kissing Quinn's cheek fondly.
"Did you like my introduction?"
"You forgot to mention that I'm hot." Rachel points out half joking (only half joking) as she looks at the camera. "Just saying…" She raises her hands up playfully.
"Oh." Quinn presses her hand on her forehead.
"Quinn is going to be sleeping in the couch today guys." Brittany teases.
"No, it's not fair. I can explain. I was focusing on your incredible career and how talented you are baby." She pouts. "Besides when I start praising your physical attributes I can't stop and things tends to get a little too mature rated."
"That's true." Rachel smirks. "You're forgiven. You can continue Brittany."
"Thank you for being here Rachel," She says happily. "Again."
"Yeah!" Rachel laughs as she remembers the first time she was in fondue for two. "Here I am again B."
"You guys totally should see Rachel's first time at fondue for two, I'm sure it's on the web."
Rachel and Mercedes came to fondue for two when the glee club were reunited to try and stop Sue's plans to destroy the glee club once again, they were having a Diva off. Rachel was engaged to Finn at that time and Santana scolding her with the whole prom thing was really understandable as she was pissed off with Rachel for everything that happened between her and Quinn. She later went to the bathroom to apologize and to reassure that she was lying, although she wasn't who Rachel wanted at the moment as Quinn was barely talking to her.
"Hell to the no." Rachel says promptly almost like her best friend. "I really hope that's not on the web."
"You're cute on it baby." Quinn reassures.
"You were, now, before we continue, Rachel, Santana left something for you."
"Hm…" Rachel narrows her eyes suspiciously.
"I believe it's hidden over there, in your armchair, under the cushion." Brittany explains as she points to the cushion.
Rachel then rummages about for whatever Santana has left to her. She finds a note under the cushion.
"Found it."
"Great. What is it?" Brittany asks as if she doesn't know already.
"A note I guess." Rachel informs as she unfolds the note.
"What it says?" Quinn asks curious.
Rachel reads it out loud.
"Do the Quinn's voice thing." As soon as she finishes she starts laughing.
"Quinn voice uh?" Quinn arches her eyebrow at her wife.
"You have to do it." Brittany claps her hands excitedly. "Do it, do it, do it." She gestures to the audience to help her and everybody follows her in unison. "Do it, do it, do it!"
"What's that anyway?"
"It's very funny Q." The blonde host laughs. "Rach you have to do it, people will be curious now."
"Okay." Rachel lifts her arms in surrender. "It was an interview honey, don't be mad at me." She looks at the camera. "Santana I'm going to kill you." She takes a deep breath. "Okay, here it goes…" She licks her lips and prepares herself. "I am…So excited... for this movie... that's gonna be released.¹" She says it in Quinn's husky tone and as soon as she finishes it everybody is laughing, even Quinn is smiling.
"Do I talk like that?" The blonde actress questions her wife.
"You know I love you." Rachel squeezes Quinn's thigh and kisses her cheek as Quinn melts by her side.
"I do." She says with a silly grin plastered to her face.
"And you know you have a sexy voice."
"I remember when we were younger, women used to be all over her and they were like orgasming just with her voice."
"B!" Quinn complains embarrassed, hiding her face behind her hands.
"Don't remind me of that Brittany." Rachel sighs dramatically.
"You're a jealous person." The blonde host states. She has no doubts about that.
"I'm a very jealous person." Rachel admits. "We have had problems because of this a few times."
"We're both jealous individuals honey, but I think we're much better now." Quinn interjects as she caresses her wife's long hair.
"I'm mostly not a jealous person, but Santana is, trust is everything in a healthy relationship."
"We learned that." Rachel says as she looks at Quinn meaningfully.
"But let's have fun!" Brittany beams. "I have a little game now. As you all know…" She turns to the camera. "Quinn and Rachel are very special friends of mine and we kind of have this weird and so very awesome family, we're close to each other since high school." She turns to the couple again. "That being said, I asked some members of your family to choose words that define you guys for them, like the first thing to come to their minds whenever they think about you."
"Please tell me you didn't ask it to Puck?" Rachel inquires a little concerned and a little amused.
"I don't know…" Brittany says mischievously. "So I will say the word and you guys need to tell me who said it and then you need to tell me something meaningful about it." She pauses for a moment. "It can be a story or how you feel. It can't be like for example, someone chose sex, and you guys like only say, oh well sex is good." She shakes her head. "Not how it's going to be."
"Did Santana choose sex?" Quinn crosses her arms over her chest glaring at her friend.
"I can't tell."
"Brittany." Quinn whines, but the blonde host ignores her and starts the game.
"So, the first word is…" She trails off. "Not a word." She frowns as she reads the card she is holding. "Well, anyway… Second chances." She informs as the words appear in the screen behind them. "Who said it and tell us what second chances mean to both of you."
"Uh… I think… Mercedes." Quinn answers.
"Are you sure?" Rachel questions her wife.
"I guess…"
"Then you're absolutely right!" Brittany says excitedly as a picture of Mercedes appears on the screen.
"There she is, our Divalicious." Quinn says smiling at Mercedes' picture.
"For me second chances are a blessing. I am incredibly thankful that I had a second chance with Quinn. As is well known I had a previous relationship that I don't regret because he was very important to me in a sense and he still is, but there are things that I did because of this relationship or rather, for this relationship, which I regret immensely." She licks her lips a little emotional. "Things I did to Quinn, to us… When she moved here back then I thought I was going to lose her as my friend and I…" She pauses, holding back her tears as Quinn wraps her arm around her and kisses Rachel's temple. "Let's just say I'm really happy I had a second chance with her." Rachel finishes.
And she is very thankful indeed, thankful for what has been granted to her, since her odd experience, otherwise known as the glimpse, till now.
"Second chances for me mean breathing once again." She says carefully as Rachel sighs by her side. "It means having Rachel and Beth in my life and also how incredibly blessed I am for it."
"I knew that was going to be the toughest one." Brittany admits sweetly.
"Yeah…" Quinn nods playfully. "Thank you Cedes." She adds and makes Rachel laugh through a sob.
"Next one." Brittany announces. "Experimentation."
"Santana!" The couple says at the same time.
Brittany draws her lips into her mouth, holding back her smirk.
"Yep." She finally informs them and a picture of Santana appears on the screen behind them. "There she is. My goddess." This time she is the one smiling at the picture. "So, Quinn, why do you think Santana chose this word?"
"Because she wants me to tell people something that happened years ago?" Quinn says smiling wryly.
"In her defense, I know why she chose it."
"Really?" Quinn inquires her wife with a frown on her forehead.
"Well, Santana has this protectiveness towards you that she will never admit." Rachel smiles teasingly. "So when you told her you were just experimenting…"
"College times you guys." Brittany interjects mockingly.
"It wasn't exactly like that, but anyway…" Quinn shrugs. "I guess I just said that because I was in denial."
"Being gay back then was still a little tough." Brittany ponders.
"To say the least." Rachel says thoughtful. "But anyway, Santana kind of understood that you didn't want her to pressure you. She knew then that you didn't want her to start reanalyzing your attitudes and past actions towards me especially. She was always concerned that your love for me could be unrequited, so she respected that you were mostly protecting yourself and that you didn't want to talk about that experience in depth because that would've eventually led to your feelings for me. And you weren't ready for that at that time."
"I'm impressed that you know all that."
"She kind of told me that…" Rachel admits smugly.
"I'm not sure if I get it though…"
"Baby, I was the reason why you did your "experimentation"" Rachel does air quotes. "Santana figured out you had feelings for me that time."
"Okay, I think we should move on before someone let slip a confidential detail."
"Please." Quinn agrees, nodding her head.
"Next word is marriage."
"That was Kurt and Blaine." Rachel says with a fond smile on her lips.
"Yeah, that's totally Kurt."
"Correct and Rachel is right, Klaine answered together."
She informs and a picture of Kurt and Blaine together appears behind them, making the fangirls cheer excitedly.
"Of course." Quinn teases.
"We do have a very happy marriage and Kurt has a big part in our journey till here, I mean, he was there when I realized I needed Quinn, he supported me when I said I was going to act on my feelings, he designed our wedding gowns and so on…"
"Everything she said, and Blaine too of course." The blonde actress adds lively.
"Next word is criminal."
"That's totally my dads in law, actually that's probably Hiram." Quinn explains as Rachel giggles knowingly.
"You'll have to explain that one to me. It was the only one that I didn't get it." Brittany says curious as Leroy and Hiram's picture appears on the screen this time.
"My first night with Hiram and Leroy as Rachel's girlfriend were remarkable."
"Mmhm." Rachel agrees, paying attention to her wife.
"I cooked and we had a wonderful dinner, but then we ended up at their basement."
"The Berrys' infamous basement. Rachel's dads have this very nice and totally cool basement, we had memorable parties over there." Brittany explains to the audience.
"Yeah. And so they were singing and they said we should totally play name that tune."
"Oh really?" Brittany giggles.
"To cut it short I was winning and Rachel was pissed off."
"You're exaggerating." Rachel says pouty.
"Anyway, in the final round I messed up deliberately so she would win and they teased me endlessly, the song was smooth criminal by M.J. and I said something else."
"Daddy said I was a criminal for using my pouty face and doe eyes to blackmail Quinn. Of course I reminded him that he does the same thing to Dad."
"The more important is that Leroy came to me after and said he could see then how much I loved her, because being a Fabray victory always meant a lot to me. He also said he knew what I was doing because he used to do that a lot when he and Hiram were dating." Quinn completes affectionately.
"Aw so sweet." Brittany smiles. "This one I really didn't figure out."
"It was kind of an inside joke I guess." Quinn explains. "I think Hiram just meant that they know we love each other. We love each other enough to let the other win a very serious competition."
"A competition that I would've won regardless."
"Yes sure…"
"Next word is bathroom." Brittany goes on before they start an argument.
"Bathroom?" Rachel inquires confused.
"That's Puck. I kind of know why he picked this one."
"That's correct. You guys really do know your family." Brittany smiles proudly.
"I really have no idea why he chose this word. I mean, really? The first word that comes to his mind when he thinks about us is bathroom?" Rachel gets thoughtful for a moment. "Thinking about it, it could've been a lot worse."
"It could." Quinn says playfully. "But let me explain, when I told him about us, I kind of vented on him, I told him everything…" She grimaces playfully. "Let's just say I was in rambling mode on and slightly inebriated. But Puck listened to everything. I mean, like really listen and I told him everything, including certain artistic drawings." She smirks and Rachel shakes her head knowingly. "In the end he just said, dude, you guys do have a thing for bathrooms." She impersonates the father of her first born playfully.
"Just so you guys know, Quinn and Rachel had lots of fights back in high school, and they had some memorable moments inside the walls of the girls' bathroom." Brittany explains once again to her audience.
"I get it now, but there weren't just fights. We had sweet moments too." Rachel adds.
"Great ones." Quinn winks at her wife.
"Next word is vacation."
"Oh! She is impossible." The blonde actress shakes her head amused as Rachel laughs lively.
"She is not going to forget it you know it."
"Toni said that." Quinn answers. "And it has nothing to do with us. She wants us to take her to Disneyland again. She is bugging us for a week now. She reminds us she is about to be on her break every other second."
"That's the perks of being a parent honey." Rachel teases.
"It actually has everything to do with you guys, she said to me she loves when you guys are on vacations because she loves her family and she loves spending time with her family." Brittany defends the brunette girl.
"Aw… really?" Quinn places her hands on her chest. "We're totally going to Disneyland now."
She's really my daughter…
Rachel thinks smugly as she knows exactly what her daughter just did.
"Next word is on me actually, I have a last question for you guys."
"Bring it on." Rachel says playfully.
"It's about the future. I could ask about plans, future projects, but that's too mundane for me. I want to know, Quinn, do you see yourself still married to this woman in ten years from now? And Rachel same question."
They look at each other for a moment, eyes full of love and longing.
"I just can't imagine myself without her. I can't picture my life with me not married to Rachel." She says passionately.
"Will you be my shoulder when I'm grey and older? Promise me tomorrow starts with you…"
Rachel sings sweetly and Quinn smiles in awe.
"I should know you were going to sing." Brittany teases. "Thank you guys for coming!"
"You're welcome B!"
They say at the same time and Brittany says goodbye to the audience.
Soon after, they head off to the dressing room where their kids are waiting for them. As soon as he spots them when they get inside the room, Benjamin runs toward his mommies. Quinn lifts the five years old boy on her arms right away.
"Hey baby boy, did you miss your mom?" She asks him as she fixes his glasses, he inherited some others things from her, aside from his looks.
"Yes." He answers happily.
"And the girls, did they behave?" Rachel asks caressing his hair as he nods.
Amy and Toni are chatting animatedly, ignoring solemnly their mothers.
"They're with me, of course they did." Santana states smugly.
"Yeah sure." Quinn puts Ben down and gets close to her best friend. "Come here."
She hugs Santana tight, like she hasn't hugged her for awhile.
"I knew I shouldn't have said that to Rachel."
"Shut up." Quinn hits her shoulder. "So, what do you guys think of having a family's dinner?" She inquires the group and the kids cheer in excitement as does Rachel, even Santana approves the idea.
When they are preparing to leave as Brittany is mostly ready to go, Quinn takes Rachel by the hand and pulls her close.
"Yes." She says into Rachel's ear.
"Uh?" Rachel gets confused.
"I'll be your shoulder." Quinn tells her without falter, her voice laced with passion and longing.
Rachel smiles in utter bliss and presses their lips together, kissing her wife sweetly. She certainly can't imagine a life without Quinn either.
So? Talk to me!
¹ Everything is Achele and nothing hurts!
The song Rachel sung is High by James Blunt.