Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 47th cycle. Now cycle 48!
Cycle 48/Day 1000 special: So, yes, in this cycle, a milestone I had to do something special for.
In this cycle I'm passing my 1000th consecutive day of gleekathon! So for this, the cycle will feature:
* 21-day/chapter story for the Sunshine Girls series (This Little Light of Mine)
* 14-day/chapter story special for day 1000 (Let Me Tell You A Story)
* One-shot installments from 12 series + 2 non-series
* And for this cycle and this cycle alone (I swear), 7 'triple shift' days, with 3 chapters/stories going up in the day!
This is a triple shift day. There will be two more uploads today: This Little Light of Mine, chapter 9 and Let Me Tell You A Story, chapter 9.
"The Late Quinn Fabray"
(Older) Santana/Brittany + pretty much everyone
Trinity series (following immediately from Troika, with ties to Not One More Year Without)
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)
(A/N: Please read the info above the line! Thanks!)
(Also this was really really long so I split it in two...)
They couldn't find words to speak. The cops had driven them back home, which was just as well… They couldn't have done it themselves. But now there they were, walking through the door, and that was when it had really started to hit them. Quinn was dead, gone… They had seen her body, her and Spencer both, had been faced with reality. Well reality had torn them to pieces, and here it was going for overkill, taking the jagged pieces and ripping them anew.
They had no strength left to endure the tears, and they just flowed unbound. Brittany, on her crutches, had to get herself seated before her legs gave out, and Santana had wordlessly helped her there, the pair of them just sort of collapsing there and sitting in the stillness. When the sobs took Brittany again, Santana just pulled her over, wrapping her arms around her. Right now she would have loved nothing more than to drink herself into numbness for just a little while, but she was pregnant and that couldn't happen. She'd have to feel it all.
"I can't…" She looked down when she heard Brittany talk into her shoulder, and she just wrapped her up closer.
"What?" Santana asked her.
"She can't be gone…" she begged, and Santana closed her eyes, feeling a new wave hit her.
"I know, I know, I…" she choked up for the first time, and now it was Brittany who pulled up to hold her. She kissed what part of her head she could reach, clinging to the fact that she still had her.
"What are we supposed to do now?" Brittany asked. They were silent for some time at that. They couldn't go back to doing what they did, not without Quinn, not with the baby on the way… Trinity was dead; it died with her. But it was more than that. She had lived here, left all of it for them to see… books on the shelves, movies, notes on the fridge door… her room… and people. People who cared for her, loved her… and now had to be told she was dead. That fact hit them together, and as difficult and renewing in their own grief as it could be, it was something they had to do, for her. Still, the thought of having to see the joy leeched out of so many faces…
"We have to tell them," Santana stated, but it was Brittany who drove it home.
"We have to go to Lima. Her mother… she shouldn't have to find out on the phone. And she should be buried there." Santana's face trembled, but she agreed, knowing that per Quinn's request, they would be taking back ashes.
First though, there were people here… Morning. It could wait until morning. They didn't have any energy left in them to take on the task now. Sleep would already be near impossible, but with luck, the complete physical and mental exhaustion had taken them, wrapped up there on the couch.
The next morning, it had only been moments before they remembered the previous night. As much as the initial shock was gone, it was still like walking with a cinderblock chained around their hearts. They had four places to go here in New York before they could envision the trip to Lima. They would wait for the ashes, of both of them. They had decided, with no one to speak for him, that wherever Quinn went, Spencer would go with her. They had sequenced their visits, knowing what each would involve, what each would take out of them. The first had been Winger.
When they had shown up at his shop, he had an odd look on his face, but they wrote it off as Winger being as Winger was. They told him about Quinn and Spencer and, being the first time they had to say it, needed a moment before they could go on. They told him that they would no longer require his services, but that they would still count him a friend, and that was the truth. He hugged them both.
They went to Claudia and Lucas next. Claudia was out but would be back soon. They told Lucas while it was just them. It would be just them and Claudia when she came back. Like others later would, the moment she saw them, she knew something was wrong, though she would assume at first that something had happened to the baby. When they told her it wasn't the baby, the noted absence connected the dots for her. As strong as the doctor could be, Claudia had been heartbroken. Lucas, on standby, had come to comfort his wife. Again, like their previous visit, like their next, they vowed to make the journey with them to Lima for the funeral.
They had gone to Hattie and June, and by then, with the time they had needed in between, and the time they had remained with Claudia and Lucas, it was already hours since their visit with Winger. Claudia had made them lunch, refusing that they should go hungry, especially Santana… She just needed to do something. Now they were thinking their next two friends would be the last of the day, because the next one… it would hurt.
Already having to tell the girls was going to be a nightmare for them. They were dear, dear friends, who had the position of being absolutely unaware of their life as Trinity. With them, they could just be themselves, and although they had met Quinn last, over the years they had bridged that gap many times over. Now, like so many of them these days it seemed, they had babies on the mind. Hattie had resisted for so long where June was just ready, but finally, and maybe following in this whole time of Brittany and Santana, the wedding, the trying to get pregnant, she had changed her mind. They were now in the process of adopting a little boy.
They had found them on the roof of their building, where they would tend to hang out in the summer. They had been happy to see them arrive, invited them to sit. But Hattie could read their faces much too well for her not to see something wasn't right. They were already sitting, which was just for the best. As soon as they had started talking, explaining that there had been an accident, it all came together for them and they knew. June had burst into tears, and Hattie, brave Hattie, had covered her face and attempted to cover her tears as well. Santana and Brittany had taken one each to comfort, though they had to look to one another, knowing… this would only get worse.
They were just sitting in their car, trying to decide if they had it in them to do this last one tonight, when Winger called, asking they meet him, at his house, not his shop. They were confused, having never been there, though they knew Quinn had. But they went, knowing he wouldn't request this for nothing. When they arrived, he let them in with "Sorry, I had to." Before they could ask what this meant…
"Santana…" She looked up, welling up when she saw her little sister come in from the living room.
"Tali?" she hugged her close… She'd never been so happy to see her sister.
"I came as soon as I heard," Catalina told her. "Simon called this morning, I… I can't believe this is happening," she cried. She had known Quinn since she was all of four or five years old. Santana looked over her shoulder, to Winger, silently thanking him. Catalina hugged her sister-in-law, taken aback by the crutches, the cast, the last hints of healing scars. She gave her the excuse she gave everyone, a biking incident. As it was, there was something else the younger Lopez didn't know about yet and, always figuring something to be happy about would help at this time, Santana had told her about the baby.
"We should go," Brittany had suddenly spoken up. "We can't wait until tomorrow," she shook her head, looking to Santana, and she knew she was right. They couldn't deny, in all the reasons they could have to dread telling them, there was one that raised more concerns: how to deliver such a shock to a woman weeks from giving birth?
They had left Catalina with Winger and they had driven off to Noah and Rachel's.
Once again they found themselves sitting in their car, in complete dread of what was about to happen, and then Santana had realized… "It's been a day…" she stared at the clock. Brittany whimpered, and Santana took her hand. "We have to do this." Brittany nodded, sniffling, drying her face. They got out of the car, walked to the door, and they were let in to take the elevator up to the seventh floor. They knocked, and of all things, finding the smiling and very pregnant Rachel on the other side of that door was probably the worst thing… They could break any moment. But then just like so many others, to see the pair's faces was to know there was terrible news coming. For Rachel, it involved a fair share of denial: no, it couldn't be what she was thinking.
"Is Noah here?" Santana asked.
"He's… he's fixing the wallpaper in the nursery…"
"… don't know what they're doing, then we should just do it ourselves," he had appeared just then, coming from down the hall. "Hey…" he blinked, seeing they had guests. He looked at the clock. "What are you two doing here?" he asked, not picking up on anything just yet.
"Can we come in?" Brittany asked, and both she and Santana could feel Rachel's gaze refusing to leave them.
"Wait, is it… Did the… Are you pregnant?" he guessed, and for a beat they had to remember.
"I… Yes, actually," Santana confirmed. "But that's not why we're here. Rachel had barely been allowed respite, thinking this was the reason of their visit, but now she was back to where she'd been and further down. Now her fears had ground to stand on.
"Where's Quinn?" They didn't want to do this on their doorstep, and they were very close to, so they had just gone ahead and let themselves in. Now Noah was starting to see it, the feelings kept just barely underneath the surface. "Santana…" Rachel followed the pair of them, who were leading them to the living room despite themselves. Brittany had all but nudged at Rachel's shoulders so she would sit herself down, which she did, while Santana turned a look for Noah to do the same. "Where's…" Rachel's eyes were stinging, and Noah came to sit with her, while the other two sat to face them. "Please, just…" They had to get it out while they could. Being here, with them, their oldest friends in the city, the ones who shared their memories… memories of her…
"Last night," Brittany began, and her voice was already wrecked – she couldn't do it. Santana took her hand.
"There was an accident, Quinn and Spencer, they…" Rachel was already shaking her head, like she could stop the words coming, while Noah's stare was planted on them, waiting… "They never made it to the hospital, they…" She couldn't have gone on if she tried, but even then, Rachel had broken down already.
"No… no, no…" she shook her head, weeping into a shaking breath. Noah had been quick to hold her. They would have spared her this if they could, but they knew it couldn't be helped. When Noah had gone to get her water, Santana had moved to take his place. But then hit with clarity, Rachel had taken this moment to ask what she needed to ask because now her grief veered on anger. "You tell me the truth right now, is that really what happened?" she stared them down. "You know exactly what I'm talking about so don't pretend. I told her, I knew, I told her all those things you three have been doing, one of these days it would get her or one of you two killed, so you tell me, is that what really happened? A car accident?"
"We swear," Santana took this with a frown. "We went down there, and we saw her…"
"You're really going to expect me to believe it like that? Like I'm supposed to believe you fell off your bike?" she turned to Brittany.
"Rachel, please…" now the blonde broke down again, and seeing that, Rachel did as well.
"I'm sorry…" she reached out to hug her. "I'm sorry, so sorry…" Santana got up, thinking maybe they'd need more than the one glass of water. When she got to the kitchen, she found him standing there, hands on the edge of the counter, head down… They'd gone and forgotten him. He'd had something with Quinn none of them did. No matter how many years had passed, they were always connected, and now… He must have sensed her there.
"Does her mother know yet?" he calmly asked.
"We're headed down to Lima as soon as we can. We couldn't just tell her over the phone."
"I'm going with you," he declared.
They had worked it out after that. Santana, Catalina, and Noah would head down to Lima together the next morning. Brittany would stay with Rachel in the meantime. They would deliver the news as they needed to go and, once arrangements for the funeral could be made, the others would come down to Ohio, with Quinn and Spencer's ashes. As they had parted from their respective spouses, Winger – who was there to see Catalina off – promised he would look in on Brittany and Rachel while they were away.
The trip had been as silent and heavy as was to be expected. Of all the things to take them back home, this was not one they would enjoy. Noah drove, while the Lopez sisters sat in the back. Catalina kept an eye on her sister, made sure she didn't overextend herself in her condition. Santana was just glad to have her there, so she didn't argue.
They couldn't do it the same way they had in New York. In this case, the hardest one had to go first… they owed her that much. They still had no idea how they would tell everybody else. Even if they didn't see each other often at all, and they could go weeks without talking, they had kept in touch, and they still mattered… and they would all need to know. But at this time, it was all about Judy Fabray. This had been the one she dreaded the most, and she wished for a moment that Brittany would be there with her. But she had Noah, and the two of them would do this.
They knew full well the woman would understand, having the two of them just land on her doorstep out of the blue coming in from New York, without Quinn. They also knew that, no matter how they did this, the end result would be the same. She would learn her daughter was dead, and her world would never be the same. The least they could do was this, to come and deliver the news in person, instead of leaving her standing alone with a phone in her hand.
She had opened the door, and as expected the initial reaction had been of joy, surprise… Only then she looked past them and was made to see they were alone. She asked where Quinn was and again, hearing that question caused for the pair at the door to brace themselves, which took away any sort of safety net from the mother.
"Mrs. Fabray, we came down from New York to tell you, it's…" Santana started, and already staring into the woman's face, seeing the parts of her that had been passed down to Quinn, was proving more difficult than she could have anticipated.
"Is Quinn alright?" Judy tried to keep it together, even though deep down she could already tell the answer.
"I wish I didn't have to tell you this, I… Quinn and her boyfriend were in an accident, night before last, there was nothing they could do…" she had struggled to find those words, and now that they had reached the mother's ears, they buckled her knees and, if not for Noah reacting to catch her, she would have fallen to the ground.
They had helped Mrs. Fabray back inside, where Santana stayed by her side while Noah once again went on a search for water. They had stayed with her as long as she needed them. Once she had started talking, it wasn't with sadness. She needed to remember her daughter's life, not her death, and the two of them had been more than happy to listen.
In the end, it was once again in the hands of a Lopez woman to look after the grieving mother, as Santana's own had volunteered to be with her through this, having heard the news from Catalina. The fact that she was about to be a grandmother was kept hushed for now, knowing it would have distracted her. Now that Mrs. Fabray knew, they had to figure out how to tell the others. Everyone else would be finding out from Brittany and Rachel's calls, from Mrs. Fabray's calls once she could, but there was one set of people Santana and Noah had to inform on their own… and they didn't know how.
There were at least ten homes they would have to call on, and even on their own it wouldn't get any easier. "I can't keep going like this," Santana confided in him as they made it back to her mother's house.
"You should take a break. Eat, lie down. I'll do it."
"No, I… I should be there," she maintained, and he put a hand to her shoulder.
"She wouldn't want you to kill yourself over this. You looked after her mother and she'd be thankful for that. Now you need to think about the kid, let me handle this part." There was no point arguing, and she was spent, so she agreed.
(PART TWO FOLLOWING)