Chapter 1
Present Day
Quinn has barely slept a wink. The nerves that settled as she watched her girlfriend fall asleep eight hours ago have failed to disappear during the course of the night and when her alarm starts to beep earnestly at six, she's waiting to swat it back into silence. She eases out of bed, trying not to wake the comatose brunette to her right despite being sure that Rachel would probably sleep through a tornado on her only day off during the week.
The nerves, thankfully, don't stop her from going through her morning routine. She showers and dresses quickly before retrieving an envelope from her dresser, weighing it in her hand. It's the first of seven envelopes she'll be leaving for Rachel today and as she places it on the pillow, she allows herself a quick smile.
Before she leaves, she presses a soft kiss to Rachel's temple and watches the brunette's forehead crinkle. Rachel sighs in her sleep, mumbles a few nonsensical words and rolls over, curling up on her side and burying her head into her pillow.
A neighbour greets her on the stairwell with pleasantries about the lovely weather they've been experiencing over the past few weeks as she makes her way out of the building.
Despite loving the winter they've just come out of, the feeling of the sun beating down on her skin as she walks towards the bus stop at the end of the street fills Quinn with a sort of glow. She joins the queue and reaches into her bag for her well-worn headphones, letting her fingers brush over the other envelopes, Rachel's name adorning the front of each one, and a smaller object, well-hidden among Quinn's meticulously organised bag.
Headphones located, she pushes a bud into each ear and scrolls through her playlists, settling on one that Rachel added at the weekend. The opening bars of her favourite song from Avenue Q causes her to laugh out loud, causing a few of the people around her to cock their heads in amusement. She flashes them an embarrassed smile and skips to the next song, running a hand over her face as if it will get rid of the blush spreading across her cheeks.
Her left foot taps along with the music as she waits for the bus to arrive, gaze pulled across the street to an old couple sitting side by side at a café. The old man is folding up his newspaper, leaning forward to finish the last of his breakfast. He asks his wife a question but she ignores him, too heavily invested in her book to hear his words. He smiles and lifts something off the plate, waving it in front of her face. She glances over at him and starts to laugh, pushing his hand away. He gestures to the book and shrugs, a cheeky grin sliding across his features. Quinn finds herself longing to hear their conversation and she wonders briefly if she and Rachel will ever sit at that café, fifty years from now, eating breakfast and getting lost in books.
She's shaken from her reverie when the bus pulls up in front of her, obscuring her view of the old couple. By the time she's settled in her seat near the back, they've left the café and Quinn has to find something else to distract her from the nerves building in the pit of her stomach again.
Exiting the bus on an unfamiliar street, her first stop takes her away from her usual route to work. Instantly, she's caught up in a sea of people, most of whom are heading in the opposite direction towards the subway station at the bottom of the street. Quinn battles her way out of the throng and through a doorway. She glances around and finds the person she needs to talk to.
"Can I help you?"
The brunette's smile is wide and bright. Every inch of her is preened and glossy and… Quinn glances down at her own attire, grimacing slightly at her faded Converse and skinny jeans.
"I'm Quinn," she says, reaching into her bag.
"You know, I had a feeling that you might be," the woman says, smile inexplicably brightening. "Kurt told me you'd be stopping by this morning."
"This is for you."
Quinn passes the envelope across the counter and watches as the women reads the name on the front.
"Do you want to check…?"
The brunette tails off as Quinn shakes her head.
"I've already seen it. Just make sure she gets that envelope," says Quinn, then pulls a couple of bills from her pocket. "I really appreciate you helping me out."
The woman waves Quinn's tip away and holds up the envelope.
"I'll make sure she gets it."
"Thanks."
Quinn offers her a final smile and moves towards the door. The onslaught of people has calmed and the sun beats down on her skin again as she makes her way towards her next stop.
Notes: This is probably the shortest chapter to exist in fic ever. But bear with me. And about the rating: this chapter isn't rated M (obviously) but there are a couple of chapters later on that definitely fall into the M rated bracket. Happy reading, guys!
Notes 2: I just noticed that the breaks in all the other chapters messed up and they end up making little to no sense. So I'm reuploading all of them. The joy.