Quinn arrived on Artie's doorstep at 4:30 sharp. His mom had wanted to make sure she arrived before he was back from his appointment, and, judging from the lack of van in the driveway, she'd made it.
She knocked on the door, and seconds later it was thrown open by Artie's younger sister, Lindsay.
"QUINN! I'm so glad you're here! We're having a surprise party for Artie's birthday! We need your help! Come in here quickly! MOM! Quinn's here!"
She reached up, grabbed Quinn's hand, and dragged her into the house. The whole thing took Quinn kind of off guard. She had met Artie's sister once, and only for a few minutes, and she was shocked at the reception she had just received.
"Oh Quinn, I'm glad you're here. Do you think you could help Lindsay hang the streamers in the living room while I finish up with the cake? They won't be back for another hour or so, so we've got lots of time. I had wanted everything to be ready when you got here, but we got a bit behind."
Artie's mom was really great. From the beginning, she had just accepted Quinn into their home as if she belonged there. Being treated like that by someone else's mom made Quinn feel all warm inside, but at the same time it made her kind of sad because her family wasn't more like that. Artie's mom made her feel like she was wanted there, and not like she was just some person that Artie had brought home. She really felt like she was becoming a part of their family. And she liked it.
"Sure. Come on Lindsay, let's go get that done," she said, as they walked into the living room.
Hanging the streamers took about ten minutes longer than it should have, because Artie's sister insisted on doing most of it herself, standing on a chair. She was a bit short, and finally asked Quinn if she could help.
When they were satisfied that the living room looked decent, they headed into the kitchen to see how the cake was coming.
Artie's mom was an amazing baker, Quinn thought, as she looked at the cake. It was several layers, and covered with whipped cream, grated chocolate, and cherries.
"Mom! Why did you make a black forest cake? I really don't like that," Lindsay said, hurrying over to her mother.
"I know honey, but it's Artie's favourite, and since it's Artie's birthday, this is what we're having."
Artie's favourite. Quinn would have to remember that. Not that she had any idea how to make such a fantastic-looking cake, but maybe she could find a recipe, or maybe Artie's mom would teach her one day so she could make one for him. As much as he loved food, they had never really talked about their favourite cakes.
"Mrs. Abrams, that cake looks amazing!"
"Thank you dear. And I told you last time you were here...call me Beth!"
When Artie's mom had said she should call her by her first name, Quinn was slightly taken aback. Her mother certainly would never have let anyone call her by her first name. It was always Mrs. Fabray, never Judy. She had been brought up being told that it was rude to call adults by their first names, and it had really stuck with her. She knew how much Artie's mom wanted her to call her Beth, though, and she resolved that she would make a conscious effort to do that in the future. Or maybe she just wouldn't call her anything...that was always a safe way to go, right?
A few minutes later, they heard the van pull up.
"MOM! THEY'RE BACK," Artie's brother Michael yelled as he ran down the stairs.
Beth ushered her two younger children and Quinn into the living room to wait for Artie and his dad to make their entrance. Quinn could see that Lindsay was practically ready to bounce off the walls, and she willed Artie to hurry up.
"SURPRISE!," they all yelled, as Artie came into the living room.
He was smiling, but Quinn could tell something was off. His smile looked forced, not happy and carefree like it usually was. She could tell that Beth noticed it too.
She walked over to give him a hug, and leaned in to whisper into his ear.
"Happy birthday, Artie. I love you."
He looked like he was going to cry.
"I love you too, Quinn. I'll be right back..." he trailed off, as he wheeled in the direction of his bedroom.
When it was clear that he was out of earshot, Beth walked over to Steve, Artie's dad.
"What happened? He was in such a good mood when you guys left, wasn't he?"
Steve looked slightly pained.
"The doctor didn't say what he wanted to hear, as usual. Near the end of the appointment, he looked at the doctor and told him to stop telling him what he couldn't do, and that he was sick of it. Then he stormed out."
"I knew this would happen. I told you he shouldn't have to go on his birthday!"
"Honey, he made the appointment. It was his choice to go."
Quinn felt uncomfortable. She wasn't sure what she should do. She wanted to go to Artie, because it was clear that he was in pain, but she didn't know if he'd want that. She didn't want to stay in the living room and listen to his parents talk about what was going on.
Just as she turned to look for an exit, Lindsay grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the kitchen.
"Artie's sad. We should make him feel better."
It amazed Quinn how much Lindsay looked like Artie. And sounded like Artie. Even their mannerisms were the same.
"Linds, I think he probably wants to be alone right now."
The little girl looked crushed.
"He looked so sad...we have to help him," she said, on the verge of tears herself.
Quinn couldn't stand it any longer, so she took the girl's hand, and they headed down the hall.
The door was closed, and Quinn could hear music playing loudly behind it.
She knocked.
Nothing.
She knocked again, louder.
"Artie...it's me. And Lindsay."
"Artie, please let us come in, I don't want you to be sad on your birthday!"
At the sound of their voices, Artie turned down the music, and went to open the door.
What Quinn saw when she stepped inside almost broke her heart. His face was completely white, and he looked like he had been crying. She looked at his hands, and saw that they were shaking. She hoped he would talk about it with her at some point.
Lindsay threw herself into his lap, hugging him around the neck and kissing his cheek.
"Artie, don't be sad! It's your birthday! Quinn's here! I'm here! Mom made you a cake, and your favourite dinner! I bought you a present too!"
He smiled.
"Thanks Linds. You're the best!"
His smile seemed more genuine at that point, and Quinn hoped that things were on their way up.
"Could you give us a minute? I want to talk to Quinn alone."
Lindsay hopped off his lap and practically ran out the door, shutting it behind her. She really liked Quinn, and she knew that Artie really liked her too.
Actually...her whole family just loved Quinn. She was so much better than that other girl he used to have around. What was her name? Tin? Something like that. She was weird, and always treated Lindsay like she was an idiot. Or three years old. Or both.
Inside Artie's room, Quinn had moved closer to him, sitting down on his bed.
"Are you ok?"
He shrugged.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just had a rough afternoon. Maybe I'll tell you about it tomorrow...can we talk about something else?"
"Artie..." she stopped. He looked like he was going to cry again. Definitely not the right time to press the issue. She'd talk more with him about it later.
"I have a gift for you out there with the other ones, but I wanted to give you this in private."
She pulled a small envelope out of her pocket, and handed it to him.
He looked intrigued.
"What is it? Can I open it, or am I supposed to wait?"
"Open it," she said, grabbing his hands and manipulating them to pull apart the envelope."
"Quinn...I can open an envelope by myself. It's my legs that don't work, not my hands."
Damn! She scrambled quickly, trying to come up with something to say.
"Well, you're taking forever, so I just thought I'd help you along there. Come on, open it!"
Maybe that wasn't what she had planned to say, but he smiled and tore into the envelope, so it must have worked.
He pulled out the little white notecard. It had a picture of a kitten on the front.
"This is adorable."
She laughed.
"Open it! If you like the kitten, I'm sure you'll like what's inside even more."
He unfolded the card, and a small slip of paper fell out.
He picked it up, and started to read...
"This coupon entitles the bearer to a minimum half an hour of fun and exploration of...the Princess Leia costume."
His eyes were bulging so much, she thought they might actually burst out of his head.
"You get the general idea. Sorry it's worded so awkwardly...I didn't know what else to call...that."
She felt her cheeks flush, and as she looked over, she saw that his were too.
"Is there an expiry date on this?"
She laughed.
"No. I thought you might like to redeem that next time we have the house to ourselves."
"I...would like that very much," he sputtered.
He couldn't believe it. Had his girlfriend just given him a coupon to "explore" her in the Princess Leia costume? THE Princess Leia costume? She knew him so well.
"We should probably get back out there...they have a really nice party set up for you."
"I told Mom not to, but I knew she would. She never listens."
"Your family loves you very much," she said, quietly.
He instantly felt guilty. Of course they did. They only meant well. It wasn't their fault he'd had the afternoon from hell, right?
"Let's go see what's going on."
When they got back to the living room, Beth jumped up, and kissed her son.
"I know I've said this about 20 times today, but happy birthday, honey. I love you so much."
"Thanks Mom...I love you too."
"Mom! Mom! Can I give Artie his present now?"
Lindsay looked like she was going to jump right out of her socks if she couldn't give his brother the gift she'd picked out for him.
"Honey, remember we said we were going to wait until after dinner"
The little girl did not look amused.
"Couldn't he just have one now, and the rest later? It could be like Christmas, when we open one on Christmas Eve, and the rest on Christmas?"
How could Artie's mom argue with that? She was pretty sure Lindsay had planned out the entire situation, making sure all her bases were covered in case her mother turned her down.
She smiled and nodded, and Lindsay ran to grab the gift from the little coffee table.
Judging from the appearance of the package, she had wrapped it herself. Quinn watched as the girl handed the package to her older brother, a look of pure joy on her face. She wished she had brought her camera, and just as that thought ran through her mind, she saw Beth snap a picture of the two of them. She'd have to ask her if she could email it to her.
She still couldn't believe how much alike they were. It was like Lindsay was a miniature, female version of her brother. Quinn found herself thinking about what their children would look like...again, before she snapped herself out of that thought. Every time she had thoughts like that, it reinforced how strongly she felt about Artie. She didn't care what her mom said...what she and Artie had was real, and serious, and meant to last. Her mom always said that high school loves are over as quickly as they start, but this was something different.
She snapped back into the present, and watched as he carefully removed the paper, revealing the box inside.
"I hope you like it Artie, I picked it out for you! Mom paid for it, but I picked it out!"
He carefully opened the box, and pulled out a small sculpture of a girl, with blond hair.
"Doesn't it look exactly like Quinn? I was so excited when we found it! It looks EXACTLY like her, Artie! Don't you think?"
And it did.
"Thanks Linds, it's great! And yes, it really looks like her!"
"I wanted one that looked like you too, but there wasn't one. None of them had glasses like yours, and it's just not the same if the glasses aren't there. Someone might have thought it was someone else, and not you. I'm sorry."
Quinn found it adorable that the reason she gave was that there were none with glasses like his, rather than there were none in wheelchairs. She knew the store where Lindsay had made her purchase, and she knew that they did carry little figurines that resembled Artie, sans wheelchair. She just hoped he didn't know that.
"Linds, this is perfect. I love it."
The little girl smiled.
"Ok, now...off to the dining room for dinner," Beth said, getting up and leading everyone into the room.
Quinn marvelled at the dinner that Beth had prepared. Sitting on the table was one of the nicest roasts she'd ever seen, along with potatoes, carrots, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, and, of course, squash. She giggled, remembering their squash bowling day. That was such a fun day. She hoped they could do it again.
Quinn mused that maybe they should try "real" bowling. She was terrible at that, but she knew that it was something Artie enjoyed, and she wanted to see if he was really as good as he claimed to be.
After dinner, they went back to the living room, and started piling gifts in Artie's lap. Michael went first, giving his brother a box full of...Star Wars boxers.
"I know you only have one of these, and I know you're always saying you want more, so I thought I'd just get them for you so I could stop hearing about it."
"Thanks Michael," Artie said, blushing slightly.
Quinn tried so, so hard to keep her laughter in. The whole situation was just too cute. It wasn't often that you got to see your boyfriend being given a box of underwear (and Star Wars underwear, no less!) for his birthday by his younger brother.
Quinn handed him her *other* gift next. It was a book of poetry (some of her favourites), in which she'd written him a personal note, and a CD she'd burned of some of the songs she associated with their relationship. He loved both of them, but not as much as he loved her "secret" gift.
After a few minutes (and several nicely-wrapped sweaters, books, and other things), Beth handed Artie one more small, rectangular package.
"This is from everyone. I hope you like it, honey."
Artie opened the package slowly. He had absolutely no idea what could be inside.
Everyone knew what was in the box, including Quinn, and they all sat waiting for him to open the tape. He seemed to be taking forever to get it unwrapped.
Finally, Quinn couldn't stand it anymore. She swiped the package out of his hands, cut the tape with her finger nail, and handed it back to him.
"Thanks," he murmured, opening the little box. He kind of loved it when she took charge like that.
Inside was a picture of a blue and silver PT Cruiser, along with a single key.
He didn't know what to say, so he just sat there, absolutely speechless.
His parents had bought him a car.
He and his dad had been looking at cars a couple of weeks earlier, and there had been a few they had tried that he could get into easily, but after that he'd kind of put it out of his mind. He still wasn't sure whether he was ready to learn to drive yet...it was a big thing.
Apparently now he didn't have a choice, though, because they'd gone ahead and made the purchase for him. He thought this was probably a good idea...he was so indecisive, that, had he been left to his own devices, there was a good chance no action would have been taken.
"Wow. Thank you. Thank you so much."
His parents smiled.
"I thought we'd go pick it up in a couple of days," Steve said to his son, "and then we'll see about getting you your learner's license and some lessons.
Quinn had known about the car, and it had been so hard for her to keep quiet about it. She felt so touched, watching Artie struggle to maintain his composure after being given such a wonderful gift.
She knew that a first car was a big deal for everyone, but especially for Artie, because having a car and getting his driver's license would be something that would not only give him a huge sense of personal accomplishment, but it would also give him the freedom to go wherever he wanted and do whatever he wanted to do. She knew he'd spent a long time thinking that he'd probably never be able to drive, and the fact that he was going to get a chance at some more independence was really, really important to him.
Finally, after several minutes of holding it back, a couple of tears flowed down Artie's cheek. His mom leaned over, and wrapped her arms around him.
"Shhh, sweetie. It's ok. I know parts of today were terrible for you, and I just hope that we've managed to make it a little better for you tonight."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, while Artie attempted to regain control of himself.
"Mom, I don't even care about all the crap that happened today anymore. I think this has been one of the best birthdays I've ever had."
Finally, he was sitting there smiling and looking a lot more like the Artie Quinn had grown accustomed to seeing. His parents went to clean up the kitchen, and Lindsay dragged Michael into another room to play some princess video game with her (much to his chagrin), leaving Artie and Quinn alone in the living room.
"I'm glad I was able to be here with you guys tonight, Artie...it was nice."
He smiled, and took her hand.
She prepared herself for whatever deep and meaningful thing he was about to say.
"When can we set a date for me to explore Princess Leia?"
She burst out laughing.
"Artie, you make that sound so dirty."
He laughed, too.
"I think Michael has another tournament on the weekend, so I'll probably be here alone again then..."
"That will only work if you'll model your new boxers for me."
...oops. She couldn't believe she'd just said that out loud.
He tried to keep a neutral expression on his face, but he couldn't help but smile.
"We might be able to arrange that. It all depends..."
"On...?"
"I'm not sure yet, but I'll come up with something!"
Quinn grinned.
"Oh Artie, I love it when I render you speechless."
"Speechless? Not really...I just didn't want to say anything that might be incriminating, should anyone be listening to this conversation."
At that moment, Quinn realized that Artie's parents were in the kitchen, and that they'd probably heard every word that had been said.
Artie must have come to the same realization, because all of a sudden he got very, very red, and slouched down, trying to hide.
"Do you think slouching down like that makes you invisible?"
Quinn burst out laughing at the look on his face.
Artie's parents stood at the doorway to the kitchen, watching their son and his girlfriend.
"They're so cute together, Steve...remember when we were like that?"
"I like to think we're still like that," he murmured into her ear, kissing her neck.
"Do you think we need to talk to them about...well, you know?" she asked her husband.
"Artie and I have already had a little chat about that, and I can assure you...our son is a perfect gentleman."
Beth nodded, looking back to Artie and Quinn in the living room. From what she'd seen, and from how Artie had talked about Quinn, it was clear to her that both of them knew they had something special, and they weren't about to do something that would mess with that.
A/N: I know Violet-Shadow likes that this is overly long, and I'm hoping everyone else does too! I know it rambles a bit, but I didn't want to cut anything out!
I know parts of this chapter are a little sappy, but I really don't care. If that's not something you enjoy, then don't read it!
I really wanted to introduce Artie's family, and thought this might be a good way to do that. They will definitely be surfacing again!
Feedback greatly appreciated, as always! I'm not sure when the next story corresponding with journal chapters will happen, but probably not until the weekend, because I have a bunch of other things I need to get done this week.