Hello! I have a new story to tell. Uh, yeah, I hope you enjoy it.
A growl escapes her throat when the answering machine plays once again through the receiver. Ending the call, she quickly redials the same number. This time, the phone only rings twice before it is finally picked up.
Heavy panting is heard through the receiver. "What?"
"Again! You're doing this again!" Rachel fumes as she begins to pace in anger.
"I'm sorry, okay."
"Don't say sorry to me, say sorry to the children you are letting down once again." Rachel glances to the elementary school in front of her.
"I wish I could pick them up today, Rach, but I can't, I've got so much work to do." A distant giggle is heard on the other end.
Rachel's eyes narrow. The heavy panting coming from her soon to be divorced wife and the giggle makes her suspicious. "Are you bullshitting me?"
"What makes you say that?"
Rachel listens as the phone becomes muffled, her ex obviously covering it with her hand. She faintly hears the words: "Can you stop for a moment, I can't concentrate." being said to someone in the background, most probably the someone Rachel heard a giggle from.
"Are you with someone?"
"Yeah, Jenny, my assistant, why?" Her ex answers.
Rachel's blood boils. She can feel herself getting ready to scream down the phone. However, the sound of the bell ringing stops her from doing so. She takes a calming breath, watching the children come running out of the school to their respective parents.
"You know what, Quinn? Next time when you want to fuck your assistant instead of spending time with your children, just say so, okay?" Rachel growls before angrily hanging up the phone.
Then she spots them, her beautiful children running over to her, their hands clasped tightly together. Rachel looks at Lucy, her eight year old daughter, smiling widely with her two front teeth missing. She then looks over at Alex, her baby boy of only five, skipping along beside Lucy with a piece of paper in his hands.
"Mommy!" They both say before greeting her with a hug.
Rachel laughs and holds onto the two of them tightly. "Hey babies." She says before pulling away from the two of them. Her eyes drift to Lucy who is a spitting image of herself. Big brown eyes with long, thick brunette hair. She pushes a strand of her daughter's hair behind her ear before placing a kiss on her forehead. Although Lucy looks just like Rachel, her personality is just like Quinn's. She's the quiet child out of her and Alex, she is more reserved than Alex and tends to keep to herself with her nose in a book most of the time.
"Where's Momma?" She hears Alex ask.
Rachel looks over to Alex, who looks so much like Quinn, it's scary. Bright hazel eyes stare at her inquisitively, his blond hair gelled up into messy spikes. Alex is exactly like Rachel in personality - he's loud, loves to chat about anything and everything, loves to sing and more than most, you will find him dancing about in his room whilst singing along to whatever song he's obsessed with at that time.
"She couldn't make it today, baby boy. So you're going to be with me today instead. Maybe tomorrow you'll get to see Momma, okay?"
Alex frowns and looks at the paper in his hands. "But I drew a picture for her." He says, holding it out to Rachel.
Rachel takes the drawing from Alex and looks at it. Four stick men stand in a line, a house drawn beside them. Two of the stick men are taller than the other two. one with blonde hair and one with brown hair. In the corner she notices a very tall looking stick man. In the top left hand side, she notices a title that says "My Family by Alex Leroy Berry - Fabray".
"That's you." Alex says, pointing a chubby finger at the taller brunette stick figure. "That's Momma, that's Lucy and that - that's me." He says, a proud smile on his face. He points at each of the stick figures as he tells her who is who.
"Who's this?" Rachel asks, pointing to the stick man.
"That's Finn. Miss Bolton told me that I had to include him because he was your special friend."
Rachel frowns slightly, coming to the realisation that Alex doesn't consider Finn family. Why would he? Finn's not his father, he's just Mommy's friend to Alex.
"You can give it to Momma tomorrow, okay?" Rachel says, handing the drawing back to Alex. She stands up and takes both Alex and Lucy's hand. She turns her attention to Lucy who has stayed silent. "How was your day, Lucy?"
"It was okay. We learnt out six times tables today." Lucy says.
"Really?"
"Yeah. I can do them up to ten. Miss Newman said that I was really fast at learning them."
"I'm sure you were, you're a smart girl."
"I can do my two times tables!" Alex says as he skips besides Rachel, his hand firmly holding onto hers.
"No you can't." Lucy says, looking around Rachel to Alex.
"Ya huh!"
"Nu uh!"
"Ya huh!"
"Prove it!"
"Fine!"
Rachel laughs, shaking her head at her children.
"2x1=2 2x2=4 2x3=6 2x4=8 and 2x5=10" Alex says proudly.
"Well done, Alex! That was really good!" Rachel says.
"Well I can do them up to twenty!" Lucy boasts.
"Nu uh!"
"Ya huh!"
Rachel rolls her eyes, smiling at her two children as they continue to bicker. Rachel thinks back to her conversation with Quinn. She can't believe that that woman would rather get into bed with some slutty assistant who Rachel is sure carries every STI known to man than look after their children. If she can't keep up the deal they made when they separated, how will she keep up the custody deal once the divorce is final?
The knife cuts through the carrot cleanly, no struggle was needed. Rachel grins at the knife and looks over to the wooden knife block where she picked it up from. 5 years she's had these knifes and they are all still as sharp as the day she brought them. Rachel's smile slowly lessens as she thinks back to that day.
With a 3 year old Lucy resting on her hip, Rachel and Quinn had travelled to the store together, back when they were happy and in love. Quinn had gladly taken Lucy from Rachel's hip whilst Rachel walked around, oohing and aaahing at every kitchen appliance she saw. After a few arguments between the two of them, they finally decided on a stainless steel set of knifes as well as a coffee machine before heading home. Rachel had set her sights on cooking straight away and cut up vegetables with the very knife in her hand. As she cut the vegetables, Rachel remembers feeling Quinn's arms circle round her waist and pull her close to her body.
Rachel breathes in deeply, remembering the smell if Quinn's perfume that consumed her in a comforting cocoon in that moment. She remembers how Quinn's lips felt on her neck, she feels them now like it was a ghost touch, just a simple tickle on her neck in the very spot Quinn's lips lay. She remembers hearing Quinn asking to have a carrot, to which Rachel happily sliced her a piece and handed it to her over her shoulder.
They were so happy then. What happened?
Rachel shakes her head to herself. She knows exactly what happened.
"Hey babe."
Rachel turns around at the sound of her boyfriends voice and grins at him. "Finn! You're back from work early."
Finn grins. "I thought that seeing as we finally get an evening without your kids I would leave early." He says giving Rachel a kiss on the lips.
Rachel goes to speak but the sound of Alex's voice stops her.
"Mommy! Lucy took my blue crayon!" He says, running into the kitchen with Lucy following him.
"He wasn't using it!" Lucy says, defending herself.
Rachel ignores the perplexed look Finn is sending her and turns her attention to her children.
"Babies, say hello to Finn."
Both Alex and Lucy turn their eyes to the tall man and quickly say hello to Finn before turning their attention to the more important matter at hand - the blue crayon. Well, to them anyway.
"Hey." Finn says, however his tone of voice is not very welcoming to either child. Rachel ignores this.
"Honey," she says to Alex. "If you weren't using it, then you should allow Lucy to use it. Sharing is caring, remember? Don't you care for your sister?"
Alex frowns and nods his head. "I do." He turns to Lucy. "You can use the crayon, Lucy."
Lucy smiles at him and skips away. Alex glances at Finn before looking at Rachel. He grins brightly at her before running to hug her. "Love you, Mommy." He says before scurrying away after his sister.
Rachel watches him go with a smile. She can only hope that he doesn't change from how he is now, giving her hugs and kisses all the time.
"Why are they here?" Finn asks.
Rachel's stands up and goes back to cutting up the carrots for the salad. "Quinn was...busy." She says. Finn isn't Quinn's biggest fan, nor is Quinn Finn's biggest fan. She doesn't want to add more fuel to Finns hatred to her soon to be ex wife by saying she thinks she's ditched the kids to have sex.
"But we were meant to spend the evening together." He says. A smirk pulls up on his face and he leans against the counter. "And you know, have a little fun."
Rachel's smile is strained. Finn was never very good at dirty talk. It's quite cringy actually, when he does. "I know."
Finn shrugs and pushes himself up so he's sitting on the counter. "So, have you thought anymore about what we discussed last night?"
Rachel pauses in her chopping and places the knife down. She had completely forgotten about that conversation. Ever since she received the text message from Quinn, the blonde woman is all she could think about. She picks up the carrots and places them in the salad bowl before mixing up the salad.
"Rach?" Finn prompts, his feet hitting against the cabinets he is sitting upon.
Rachel picks up the bowl of salad and takes it to the table. When she walks back into the kitchen, Finn has jumped off the counter and is now standing in front of the oven. Rachel hands Finn the plates, 2 ceramic ones and 2 plastic ones-one is Thomas the tank engine, the other is Disney Princesses.
"Rachel." Finn says again, becoming aggravated with Rachel's lack of answering.
Rachel picks up the pots of spaghetti bolognese, one vegan for her, and glances at Finn before walking to the dining table.
"I don't think now is a good time to talk about that." She says evenly, taking the plates from Finn and placing them on the table. She walks back into the kitchen, Finn following her.
"It's the perfect time!" Finn says, taking the cutlery that Rachel hands to him. Rachel rolls her eyes and picks up a set of plastic cutlery for Alex and the basket of bread rolls.
"I would rather not talk about it right now, Finn."
Finn follows Rachel into the dining room once again and sets the cutlery down. "Why?"
Rachel looks up from Alex's seat, where she was sorting out his booster seat and stares at Finn with aggravated eyes. "Because we are about to have dinner, because I haven't really thought about it and because I haven't even asked the kids about it yet, or even mentioned it to Quinn!" She says in a hushed tone so the children don't hear her.
Finn sits himself down at the table and pouts angrily. "Why do you need to tell Quinn?" He asks as Rachel walks into the kitchen once again to grab the two juice cups sitting on the island and two glasses for herself and Finn.
She storms back in, handing Finn his glass quite aggressively. This man is causing her aggravation levels to skyrocket. She places Lucy and Alex's juice cups down and turns around to face a still pouting Finn.
"Quinn is the mother of my children. She has a right to know when a big change may happen in her children's lives."
"Only Alex is her kid!"
Rachel glares at Finn, her patience quickly evaporating. "Lucy is just as much as her daughter as Alex is her son. She may not have given birth to Lucy or share any genes with Lucy, but she helped me look after Lucy, she loves Lucy more than any other girl in the world. How dare you say that to me!"
Finn has enough common sense to look guilty about what he said and backs down a little. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that."
Rachel pinches the bridge of her nose and takes a deep breath. "Look, can we drop it for now? We'll talk about it later." When Finn nods Rachel lets out a small smile before turning around to face the living room. "Kids, dinners ready!" She calls.
Almost immediately, Rachel hears their little footsteps come scurrying through the hallway and into the dining room. Lucy immediately takes her usual place, on the left hand side next to the head of the table closest to the kitchen. Alex, however, pauses when he sees Finn sitting in the seat at the the other head of the table, the one closest to the living room - Quinn's seat.
Alex looks up at Rachel, the tiniest frown on his face. A wave of déjà vu hits Rachel when she looks at Alex. He looks so much like Quinn right now.
"He's sitting in Momma's seat." He whispers to Rachel.
Rachel looks over at Finn and realised that Finn had heard Alex. Finn sighs softly and gets up from the seat before moving to sit at the other head of the table, closer to Lucy.
Now happy with the seating arrangements, Alex holds his arms out to Rachel so she can lift him up into his seat. Once Rachel is seated, everyone begins to eat.
When everyone becomes heavily invested in their meal, Rachel decides to start up conversation. "How was school, Lucy?"
Lucy swallows the food she had stuffed into her mouth. "It was good, I got to read Charlie and the chocolate factory today." She says with a grin.
Rachel gasps in excitement. "Really? Wow!" She places some salad into her mouth and chews slowly before turning her attention to Alex. She doesn't notice the plotting look on Finn's face. "And apart from your drawing, what did you do today, Alex?"
With his mouth full of food, Alex begins to speak. "I gop po do spome pinger painping!"
"Don't talk with your mouth full of food, young man." Rachel chastises.
Alex quickly chews and swallows the food in his mouth. "Sorry mummy. I got to do some finger painting today!" He says in excitement.
"What did you paint?"
"A lion!"
"Wow! Why didn't you bring it home with you today?"
Alex stabs his fork into a piece of cucumber. "It wasn't dry in time. I painted it for Mumma." He says before attempting to place the piece of cucumber that is way too big into his mouth.
Thy fall into silence once again and continue to eat dinner. Rachel's eyes slowly lift up when she noticed movement coming from Finn.
Finn places his cutlery down on the table and wipes his mouth with his hand before leaning back in his chair. "So, kids, your mum and I have something very important to ask you."
Red. That is what Rachel sees right now. Bright burning red flames that are surrounding Finn in anger. The grip on her fork tightens as her blood begins to boil.
"Finn." Rachel manages to ground out through her teeth.
Her children stop eating and look over at Rachel before glancing over to Finn.
"What?" Lucy asks.
"Well, we have both been thinking about this-" Finn begins to say before being cut off by the sound of Rachel's chair being scraped against the tiled flooring.
All eyes turn to Rachel as she stands from her chair, her eyes glaring right at Finn as her anger finally bubbles over. Trying to keep her voice calm, rachel angles her body to look at Lucy and Alex. "Kids, go watch tv please." She asks with a surprising amount of calmness.
"But Finn wanted to-"
"Now!" Rachel orders, cutting off Lucy's protest.
Quick as mice, the two children scurried off, not wanting to anger their mother any further. When Rachel is sure they are out of earshot, she slowly makes her way round the table to Finn. The man looks up at Rachel with slight fear, almost quivering in his seat at the death glare Rachel is directing at him.
In the most chilling voice Rachel can muster, she calmly hisses out, "Kitchen. Now." Before moving into the kitchen. She doesn't turn to face Finn until she is sure he's in the kitchen. Slowly, she turns around and closes the kitchen door, her eyes focused on the tall man in front of her.
Finn gulps and looks away from Rachel. Rachel spots a single bead of sweat running down the side of his face.
"How," Rachel slowly says as she takes a step towards Finn. "Dare you!" She shouts, poking him aggressively in the chest. Rachel lets herself feel a little proud at the way she made Finn wince slightly and how he's now rubbing the spot she poked.
"Rach-"
"How dare you go behind my back like that! Actually, that wasn't even behind my back, you did it right in front of my face - against my wishes!" She yells, not giving Finn a chance to defend himself.
"It was the perfect opportunity!" Finn yells back, managing to find some courage left in him.
"I don't care! I told you that I hadn't thought about it, I hadn't made a decision and I needed to ask Quinn!"
"Why does Quinn even need to know? She could know after!"
Rachel explodes. "She has a right to know about changes in her children's lives! I told you why earlier. We can't go behind her back and make you the kids' adoptive father! She would be furious and rightfully so, she has the right to agree or disagree to it." Rachel is screaming right now, she knows that kids must hear her, but right now she doesn't care. What she cares about is how this man- Her supposedly boyfriend - went against her wishes and doesn't seem to have any regard for her ex, her children's mother.
"We both know what her answer would be! She hates my guts!"
Rachel places her hands on her hips. "Regardless of that, she is still their parent."
"I can't believe that you are on Quinn's side!"
Rachel's eyebrows furrow in confusement. "The only sides in this argument is your side and my side. Quinn has no side."
"You're putting her feelings before mine!"
"I," Rachel says, slightly offended "am putting my children's feelings first!"
"But-"
"Enough, Finn! I don't want to see you right now. Leave."
Finns face scrunched up in anger. "Fine. I'll be in our room."
he goes to walk past but Rachel's hand on his chest stops him.
"No." She says. She shoves him back slightly and opens up the kitchen door. "Leave my home. I don't want you here anymore."
Finn glares at Rachel before storming past her. Rachel quickly follows to make sure he does actually leave. She watches with her arms folded as Finn angrily puts on his coat and shoes like a child, huffing as he does so. He gives Rachel one last sour look before storming out of the house, slamming the door closed.
With Finn gone, Rachel finally releases a sob that she had been holding back and collapses against the door with her back against the wood and closes her eyes. Before she can even release another sob, she feels two pairs of arms wrap around her, one set around her hips, the other round her waist. Her arms naturally fall to wrap around the two children hugging her.
opening her eyes, Rachel looks down at her children who both look up at her, matching looks of sadness on their faces.
"Are you okay, Mommy?" Alex asks.
Rachel sniffs and gives Alex the best smile she can muster. "I'm better now, baby."
Rachel leans against the tub, her right hand gently swaying the the soapy bubbles below as her left rests against her cheek. Alex sits in the bath, suds covering his face like a beard as he plays about with his bath toys, creating voices for each of them. Rachel smiles softly, thinking about how when Quinn would bathe Lucy and Alex, she would also create voices for their toys and act out scenarios that had the children laughing gleefully. Bath time was always their favourite time when Quinn was here.
Alex aggressively punches his toy airplane into the water, pretending the plane had crashed and causing soapy water to spray everywhere.
Rachel sputters when some of the water lands on her face unexpectedly. She playfully glares at Alex who is trying very hard to hold back his laughter.
"Alex, what did I tell you about splashing about in the water?" Rachel softly chatisises.
"You look so funny Mommy." Alex says, letting his laughter out.
A huff leaves Rachel's lips and she splashes Alex a little. He just giggles and continues to play with his bath toys.
"Mommy?"
"Yes baby?" Rachel answers, reaching to grab for the lo'real kids shampoo on the side. She gestures for Alex to scoot closer to her and squirts the shampoo into her hand.
"Is Finn going to become Lucy and me's new daddy?" He asks, placing his plane into the water.
Rachel rubs her hands together to make the shampoo warmer and bubbly, just how Alex likes it, before gesturing for Alex to place his hands against his eyebrows to cover his eyes.
"It's 'Mine and Lucy's', sweetheart." Rachel gently corrects. "Only if you want him too." She says as she begins to softly scrub Alex's hair.
"I don't want him too." Alex says. "He made you and Momma upset."
"Momma won't like it either."
Rachel looks over her shoulder and sees Lucy leaning against the bathroom door. Rachel gestures for Lucy to come in and waits for the girl to sit herself down on the toilet-with the lid down-before asking her a question.
"What makes you say that?" Rachel asks, removing her hands from Alex's head and rinsing the shampoo off her hands. She reaches over and grabs the shower head, turning on the taps and warming up the water.
"Momma doesn't like Finn." Lucy says in a matter of fact tone. "She doesn't trust him."
Rachel instructs Alex to keep his eyes closed shut as she begins to rinse off the shampoo from his head. "When did she tell you this?" Rachel asks, shocked that Quinn would state a strong opinion such as that on their daughter.
"She didn't." Lucy says sheeply, her legs kicking against the basin of the toilet. "I overheard her talking to Aunt Brittany once."
"Mommy?" Alex asks.
Rachel looks back to her son, removing the shower head from him. She reaches past him and grabs the l'oreal kids conditioner. "Yes honey?" She rubs the conditioner in her hands before gently massaging Alex's soft blonde hair.
"Does Momma not love us anymore?"
Rachel pauses her actions and looks over at Lucy, who is wearing a solemn expression, her eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly. She looks just like Quinn does when she's worried.
"Why would you think that?" Rachel gently asks, continuing her movements on Alex's head.
"We haven't seen her in ages." Lucy says. Rachel hers Lucy stand from the toilet and move over to them. She sits herself down beside Rachel, softly picking at the material of the bath mat beneath them.
"It's like she doesn't want us around." Lucy says, looking up at Rachel with sad eyes.
Rachel rinses off her hands and grabs the showerhead. She tells Alex to lean his head back as she begins to wash out the conditioner. "Your mother loves both of you very much. She's just very busy at the moment. Just because she hasn't seen you in a while doesn't mean she doesn't love you. You don't stop loving someone because you don't see them all the time."
"Do you still love Momma, Mommy?" Alex asks, his head still tipped back.
Rachel falters, her hand slipping over Alex's head and causing her to fall forward into the bath. Luckily, she manages to catch herself in time and only manages to get her forearm soaking wet and covered in soap.
Rachel licks her lips and glances down to her lap. She turns off the taps, stopping the water from coming out of the showerhead and sits back so she can look at both of her children. "Your mother and I...we're...well...We didn't really see each other as often as we used to after she got her new job-"
"You said that just because you don't see someone often, doesn't mean you stop loving them." Lucy says in a matter of fact tone, a tone that is so much like the one Rachel used when she was younger.
Stalling for time so she can think of something to say in reply to her daughter, Rachel slowly picks up Alex's power ranger towel. She holds the material in her hands and looks at both her children,
"I can't answer your question, Alex." She says honestly.
"Why?"
Rachel licks her lips and sighs softly. "I just can't." She leans forward and wraps the towel around Alex before lifting him out of the bath. "Now, it's time to get the both of you into bed." She says, coaxing both children out of the bathroom.
"Mom?"
Rachel looks up from where she was putting away one of Lucy's books and over at her daughter. Lucy stands just in front of her bed, in her pale blue pyjamas.
"Yeah?"
Lucy tugs nervously at her pyjamas. "What happened between you and Momma?" She asks.
Rachel turns from the bookcase and makes her way over to her daughter. She sits herself down on Lucy's bed, tapping the space next to her. Lucy pulls herself up onto the bd, crossing her legs under herself.
"I can't tell you, Lucy."
"Why not?"
"Because a couple of things happened that might upset you. I am not prepared to tell you a story that will upset you."
Lucy slowly nods, before her face brightens. She jumps onto Rachel, her hands grabbing at her arm, her face bright with excitement. "Can you tell me the story of how you too met instead?" Lucy asks.
Rachel smiles softly. "You already know the story, Momma told you, remember?"
Lucy scurries down to the end of her bed and flops down against her pillows, her hand coming up to her forehead dramatically. Rachel smiles, like mother like daughter.
"But that was only her side of the story, I want to hear your side." She says wistfully.
"Your side of what?"
Rachel looks over at the door to Lucy's bedroom and sees Alexs standing there, dressed in his power rangers pyjamas, cuddling his little blue dinosaur toy.
"You're supposed to be asleep, youngman." Rachel scolds gently.
Alex grins cheekily at her and plods into the room. "I couldn't sleep."
"Mommy was about to tell me that story of how she and Momma met." Lucy says from her position against her pillows. Alex's face immediately lights up with excitement, a math to Lucy's expression earlier. He runs further into the room and jumps up onto the bed next to Rachel.
"Can I hear the story, Momma?" He pleads, his eyes becoming big and wide, whilst a pout form at his mouth. A look that Rachel had mastered when she was younger and still uses to this day.
"Oh, alright." She rolls her eyes and coaxes Alex further up the bed. She stands up and moves to sit down so she's facing her kids. Alex and Lucy quickly sucrry under Lucy's bedsheets, both watching Rachel with their undivided attention.
"You really want to know?" Rachel asks.
The nod.
"It can get really boring."
Lucy scoffs. "Nuh uh, from the story that Momma told me, it's like you lived a fairy tale."
"How about I make it like a fairytale?" She asks.
"No." Lucy says. "I want to hear the actual story." She says, Alex nodding aggressively by her side.
Rachel sighs. "Alright." She moves to make herself comfortable on the bed.
Time to tell the story of Faberry.
Thoughts?
Oh and I'm not 100% happy with the title of the story, if any of you have suggestions, I would love to hear them!