She walked with confidence strutting down the halls exuding her executive power. She wore a fitted business suite, and held her briefcase in her left hand. Everyone in the office moved out of her way when she walked through, not out of fear but out of respect. She was indeed the CEO of the Bradshaw Company. She rounded a few corners smiling and giving curt nods to everyone she passed.
"Good morning Mrs. Fabray."
"Good morning Allison." Lucy smiled at her receptionist and offerred her a polite greeting before swiftly stepping into her office and closing the door behind her. It was Friday. Fridays were always good, it signaled the end of a long busy week and a promising two days of lounging around at home with her favorite person. She simply couldn't wait to get this day over with.
The blonde took a seat at her desk placing her briefcase in front of her. She needed to finish a few documents and carry out a couple of morning meetings, then she'd be the first one out the door. Using that as her motivation she set out to complete everything she needed to that would get her out of work sooner. She worked diligently, without any interruptions for about thirty minutes. She liked to keep count of how long she could go without having someone knock on her door or call her work phone. This was a new record.
"Come in." Lucy replied to the knock on her door. She wasn't surprised at all to see Allison poke her head inside her office with a sheepish smile on her face.
"I'm sorry to bother you Mrs. Fabray, but there is a call waiting on line A. It's a lady, she wouldn't give me her name or any pertinent information really. She just said that she needs to speak with you and it's an emergency."
Lucy looked to the ceiling with a confused expression. "That's odd... But I'm busy right now." She held up the documentation in her hands for added emphasis on how much work she had left. "Take a message."
Allison straightened her stance a bit and stepped a little further into Lucy's office. "That's the thing Ms. Fabray, I've tried to, but she won't take that answer."
The CEO looked down at the papers in front of her trying to calculate how great of setback it would be if she took just one phone call. "Alright... transfer her to me." One phone call wouldn't be too bad. She could catch up on the paperwork fairly quickly just so long as there weren't any more interruptions.
Shortly after Allison exited her office, her desk phone began to rang. The blonde grabbed the phone and opened up her yahoo account. She figured that she might as well go through her emails if she was going to take the call.
"You're speaking with Lucy Fabray, the CEO of the Bradshaw company, how may I help you ma'am?" Most of the emails she had were old or just lists of meeting times. None of which she needed, Allison kept her up to date on everything that was current or upcoming.
"What are you wearing?"
Lucy's hand stilled on the mouse. Maybe it was because she was paying half attention to the person on the phone, or maybe it was because she was in the middle of reading an email, but she didn't think she heard that 100% correct. "I'm sorry ma'am what was that?" This time she focused all of her attention to the person on the other line.
"I said what are you wearing?" She said it like it was the simplest of questions. She'd obviously heard it correct the first time, but now that the blonde was actually paying attention she could hear it. The playful tone, the bounce in woman's voice, the familiarity of the question. The smile that spread across her face was completely involuntary.
"Allison told me this was an emergency." The CEO leaned back in her chair and slouched down in her seat. She could get back to her emails later.
"Don't fire her. In her defense, I disguised my voice and screamed bloody murder. She had no choice but to send me to you."
"Why didn't you just call my cellphone weirdo?"
"Because, Quinn, I'm not important enough for you to answer my phone calls while you're at work."
Lucy scoffed and held back her laughter. She found the obsurdity in the statement to be amusing. "Oh please, you come before anything... including this job." Lucy stated with the utmost sincerity in her voice. "And you know it too... that's why you call me at work so often, because you know I'll stop whatever I'm doing just to hold an idle conversation with you... It almost seems like you're trying to get me to fall behind on my work." The blonde narrowed her eyes suspiciously and spun around in her chair to face her window. She had forgotten to pull back the blinds when she came in.
"I would never..." The woman said with fake offense. " I can't believe you would suggest such a preposterous thing. How dare you?" The playful banter was familiar, it was a normal thing between the two.
The blonde pulled back her blinds letting the sunlight seep into her office. She loved the view she had of the city. She could sit there all day and look outside, but things like work always got in the way of her doing just that. "Was there any real emergency this time?"
There was a pause on the other end before Lucy heard the other woman take a deep breath. "Well actually... I've been wanting to talk to you about something... it's serious."
The blonde sat up a little straighter as a weird feeling began to settle in her stomach. "Serious like how? What's going on? Are you okay?"
"Quinn, calm down. I'm fine, everything's okay..." The blonde slouched back into her chair and let out a sigh upon hearing that. "I'm just not too sure about how you're going to react to what I have to say, so I'm a little nervous."
The blonde shrugged her shoulders and switched the phone to her opposite ear. "Oh, well you know you can talk to me about absolutely anything right? There's nothing to be nervous about."
"Yea, I know... but this is different."
Lucy opened her mouth to speak only to be halted by her office door swinging open to reveal Allison. She looked at her receptionist who only silently apologized for the interruption and mouthed that she had to be in a meeting right now. The blonde nodded at the woman and stood from her seat. "Hey, could you hold on a sec? I'm going to put on my earpiece."
"Yea, sure." The woman mumbled. That was all she needed to hear before she put the lady on hold and stared up at her receptionist with a confused look.
"I thought that I didn't have any meetings scheduled for another hour and a half."
Allison only shrugged and opened her boss's office door a little wider, preparing for her to gather her things and walk out. "Something important has come up and the email said for you to be in the confrence room now."
"Something always comes up." The CEO said before adjusting her earpiece to a comfortable fit and getting back on the line. "Sorry about that. Allison just informed me that I have a meeting to get to." Lucy and Allison walked side by side as they made their way to the meeting.
"Are you telling me this because we're going to say goodbye soon?"
"Unfortunately so." The blonde informed her regretfully.
"So whatever happened to me coming before your job?" She asked casually.
Lucy smiled hearing the playfulness in the other woman's voice. She could hear the challenge and Lucy Fabray never backed down from a challenge. "Do you want me to miss my meeting just so that we can continue to carry out this conversation?" The CEO didn't miss the slight look of panic that washed over her receptionist's face after the statement.
"I don't know... would you do it?"
"Are you daring me?" She challenged with a smile. They'd almost made it to the confrence room, but she would gladly about face if that's what the brunette on the other end wanted her to do. All she needed was a word.
"No... go to your meeting honey... I'm sure it's about some new invention that'll finally help Bradshaw take down Apple or something." The blonde could hear the warmth in the other woman's voice... If that was even possible.
"I doubt it... We never really talk about anything real that could potentially put us on top. Most of the time it's all just an idea that no one is really going to take seriously." They'd finally made it to the confrence room, but they weren't stepping in until Lucy ended the call. So they stood outside the door as they said their final words.
"It's important, I assure you."
"Oh yea? How do you know?" Her question went unanswered for as soon as she asked it the line went dead. Lucy let out a sigh and shook her head before taking the earpiece off and giving it to Allison, who gladly accepted it. She exchanged the electronic device with a manilla folder.
"Here's everything you need." Allison took a pen out of her shirt pocket and handed it to her boss as well. "Here's a pen, remember to take notes. There should be extra scratch paper in there too, just in case you get bored and want to draw me a pretty picture." She said jokingly.
Lucy smiled and nodded. "Allison, you are my backbone. Thanks, I'll see you when I get out." The CEO smiled at her receptionist before putting her hand on the door handle. "I'm going in."
She swung the door open, and wholely expected to see a confrence room full of men dressed in business attire facing the projector screen. But she was surprised to see that the confrence room was empty. Lucy looked around the confrence table a bit confused. No way had Allison lied or made mistake about the meeting time. She gave her a manilla folder for crying out loud. The blonde was prepared to sit through a long and boring meeting. "You've got to be kidding me."
Just then the chair at the head of the table spun around exposing a short brunette with a devious smile on her face. "Oh, this is no joking matter Mrs. Fabray."
Lucy nearly jumped out of her skin at the sight of the woman. "Rachel, what the hell?" She said holding her hand over her chest as if that would calm down her heart rate. The brunette only laughed at the blonde's antics and shakes her head. "W-what are you doing here crazy? I'm supposed to be having a meeting right now."
"I know... your meeting is with me. I told you it would be important." She teased as she raised up from the chair and walked closer to the blonde. Lucy eyed her suspiciously.
"I'm supposed to be handling important business right now... You tricked me." Lucy huffed before folding her arms and forming her lips into a pout.
"I surprised you." Rachel said as she walked closer and took the folder from the blonde and pulled out a chair for her to sit. "Have a seat please."
"What's this all about?"
Rachel smiled and gestured to the chair that she had her hands on. "If you have a seat and relax, I'll do all the talking and you'll be overly enlightened."
"Rachel..." The blonde growled in a low warning tone. But, Rachel wasn't listening she simply gestured for Lucy to sit once again.
The CEO was very skilled in picking her battles. She was taught at a very young age to never get into a battle that she knew she would lose. She quickly analized the situation and realized that this was one of those battles. She let out a huff and begrudgingly took her seat.
Rachel beamed at her as she cracked open the manilla folder open and shifted a few papers around. "So I've prepared a display that will more or less help to support my main idea. I've compiled a collection of pictures, videos, and a few facts because I know over analitical presentations will begin to bore you... Stop looking at me like that. Don't worry I'm not trying to pitch you an idea about some new piece of technology with a promise to take over Apple, if that's what you're thinking."
"Well what exactly are you trying to pitch here?"
Rachel only handed her a piece of paper before she took her seat beside the blonde. Lucy looked over the paper that the brunette had given her while Rachel grabbed a remote and pressed a button commanding the projector screen to lower from the ceiling. The blonde completely missed the way the brunette watched her from the corner of her eye as she read over the paper that was given to her.
If Lucy thought she was confused after stepping into the confrence room and seeing Rachel she was sorely mistaken. She was even more confused now staring at the sheet of paper titled 'One Hundred Interesting Facts About Babies". "What is this?"
"Shhh, it's starting."
Lucy eyeballed the projector screen with complete horror as the introduction to the show '16 and Pregnant' began to play. "Rachel, what the hell are we watching?"
"Will you just sit there, look pretty, and pay attention please?" It was more of a command than a question, and Lucy would have complied had she not felt like this was the calm before a humongous storm. Rachel obviously took today off to show up to the company, there was a video presentation, and a print out. The brunette was definitely setting her up for something.
"Not, until you tell me what all of this is about."
Rachel let out a sigh and shook her head before pausing the movie. "You are so stubborn, and if you would have let me finish the presentation then you would know what all of this is about."
Quinn flashed the brunette an unamused look before glancing at the handout that lay in front of her. "Is this the serious matter, that you needed to speak with me about."
Rachel propped her head up on her hands, and eyed the blonde. "Yes, actually it is... Surely you must have figured it out by now. What with all the hints I've been dropping lately." The brunette picked up the piece of paper that was placed in front of the blonde. "This being one of the most obvious."
Lucy eyed the paper with confusion lacing her features. "You're researching babies now? What? you want to be a pediatrician or something?" The blonde leaned over the table and laid her head down. She refused to believe the other logical reasons why Rachel had shown up to her job with a handout about babies. Or why the brunette had taken a sudden interest in tiny humans.
"No Quinn, I want you to learn about babies."
The blonde let out something between a scoff and a laugh and shook her head. "But, I don't have time to research babies. Besides, what exactly is the reasoning behind me doing that?"
There was a long pause, and had Lucy knew what Rachel was going to say next, she would have found a way to prolong that pause even further.
"I want to have a baby."
And there it was, all at once. Like ripping off a band-aid that had been in place for a while. Her eyes bulged and her mouth fell open. She literally had to fight the urge to leave the confrence room and buy a cup of coffee so that she could return, drink the coffee and then spit it out in an overdramatic attempt to convey her surprise. She wasn't really expecting to hear those words leave the woman's mouth sitting beside her.
Rachel was now turned to face her with a hopeful stare. Her lips curved upward with happiness. She wanted this so badly and the hard part, telling Lucy, was finally over.
She blinked a few times as if that would undo what was just said. But, unfortunately for her, the brunette still had a wide smile plastered on her face staring at her with a hopeful and pleading gaze. The blonde only sucked in a lung full of air and blew it out slowly. She needed to carefully think out her next move. The woman in front of her had opened up a trap. Rachel Berry had lured her into the belly of the beast and left her to fend for herself.
"Say something." The brunette didn't try to hide her smile as she chewed on her bottom lip in anticipation. She hated being put in this position. It's not that she didn't want kids, she's sure she would love to have one or two... in fifty years or so. She fidgeted with her thumbs before she nervously reached for the paper that the brunette was holding.
"So you want to have a baby?" She needed to say something before Rachel got antsy, and the only thing she could think of was to repeat the brunette's statement. Rachel narrowed her eyes at the blonde and bit back a sly smirk as the blonde tried to hide behind 'reading' the handout.
"I just said that Quinn..."
Lucy nodded her head. "Yea, I was just making sure I heard you right." The blonde dry swallowed and shifted in her seat. "So you said you want a baby?" Quinn asks again just to be completely sure.
"God, yes Quinn! I want to have a baby." Rachel gushed.
"Wow..." It was the only thing the blonde could think of to say. She hadn't really thought about Rachel having a baby so soon. She liked things how they were. And, aside from that, was Rachel even ready for a child?
"That's it? That's all you have to say? Wow?" Rachel looked at her with pleading eyes, begging her to say how she really felt. "Quinn, say something... please."
"Let's get a dog." The blonde stated abruptly. It was a weak attempt at trying to shift the attention away from the matter at hand, one that miserably failed.
"But, you hate dogs."
"No, but I'll love it. Dogs are like kids right?" She tried to get Rachel to go with it, but the brunette had her pout fixed on her face. "I mean, you can dress them up, you can feed them and give them water. You can even put them on leashes... All the things people do with human kids."
"Yea, but I don't want a dog, and neither do you. You're just trying to deflect on the subject."
"Oh! Maybe we should get a bird."
Rachel scrunches her face in disgust. "Ew, no. Birds are really messy."
"Well, so are kids..." There was a pause in the conversation as Rachel took that into consideration and shrugged her left shoulder.
"Well, yea, but we can teach them to be neat."
A look of horror washed over the blonde's face as she stared at her wife. "Them? Like as in multiples? Rachel. I am appalled." She brought her hand over her chest.
"Oh, stop being overdramatic... Is it my fault that I want to have at least five little Quinn look alikes running around? I mean, with the blonde hair and the colored eyes. They'll be my perfect little angels." Rachel said dreamily.
"Uh.. d-did you just say five? As in number after four?" Lucy always hated it when she wasn't in control. All her life she had to be on top, she absolutely needed the reassurance of being in charge. There was nothing that she wasn't willing to do in order to achieve that. There was really only one thing, no person, that she tended to fall back and follow. That person being Rachel Berry. Lucy never minded being under Rachel in any sense, following her lead, listening to what she had to say. But, this, this was just obsurd. Five children? There was absolutely no way. The blonde needed to take control of the situation. Rachel was driving things way out of proportion. "Rach, I thought we agreed to wait." Lucy said calmly.
The brunette only folded her arms on the table and arched a challenging eyebrow towards the blonde. "And what exactly are we waiting on?"
Lucy hesitated before she ran her fingers through her hair. "Uh, marriage maybe?"
"Quinn." Rachel deadpanned. "We've been married for four years now." The other woman lifted her left hand and began to wiggle her fingers to show off her wedding band. "Proof."
Lucy cursed herself under her breath. She should've known her wife would come more than prepared to present a topic such as this one. "Rachel, what about money? Kids are expensive."
"Quinn, we have more than enough money for ten kids really. You're the CEO of this place, you could take care of at least seven of them just by yourself, and let's not forget the fact that I'm a broadway star. Hello, famous person sitting here. There are more than enough funds."
Rachel, two. Lucy, zero. "We're too busy to have a baby now."
"We can make time , just like we do for each other." Lucy was getting desperate, there was no way that Rachel had all the answers. There had to be a loop hole somewhere. She just needed to find it.
Rachel searched her wife's eyes for any sign of hope and let out a deep sigh when she realized that there was none. "Baby... you can say no."
Lucy stared at the other woman wearily, afraid that Rachel was opening another trap on her. The blonde had to be smart about this. Rachel could have very well just given her a bomb disguised in words. She had to be cautious. "What do you mean, I can say no?"
Rachel sighed and shook her head. "Honey, it's okay to say that you don't want kids right now."
Right now? Or ever. Lucy narrowed her eyes in suspicion at the woman. When Rachel didn't show any signs of insincerity the blonde leaned further back into her seat. "Okay... Rachel, I don't want to have kids."
She knew it. She should have listened to her woman's intuition. She should have read all the signs that her wife was giving her. Surely she saw the desperation in Rachel's eyes. The brunette obviously really wanted this. She took the bait, and it blew up in her face. She knew she'd been set up once Rachel tilted her head to the side and smiled politely at her.
Any normal person would have looked at Rachel and thought that she was taking the news of her wife not wanting to have kids really well. But, Lucy wasn't just any normal person. She knew her wife better than she knew herself sometimes, and she knew she had just pushed Rachel to the edge.
Lucy narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her wife. "What's that crazed look you have in your eyes?" She asked lowly.
Rachel feigned confusion and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know what you're talking about Quinn." The brunette shrugged her shoulders.
"Rachel, I know when you have something up your sleeve. You can't fool me."
The brunette waited patiently for her wife to finish before smiling lovingly at her."I'm just going to go home." Was the simply statement she offered before she began to gather the rest of her papers and slid them into the folder. "Dinner will be ready by seven... please don't be late." She flashed Lucy a small smile before leaning over and giving her a quick peck on her forehead.
"Rachel..." Lucy beckoned, but it fell upon deaf ears. Her wife grabbed the rest of her things and slid out of the confrence room leaving the blonde to herself. "Dammit." The blonde whispered harshly. She stayed in her seat biting her fingernails, a nasty habit she'd picked up, long after her wife had left the room. She stayed in the same position until her receptionist walked into the confrence room
"So? How did things go?" Allison asked with a hopeful smile as she took her seat next to her boss.
Lucy sent the woman the coldest glare she could muster up. Allison only rolled her eyes and waited for the blonde to speak. She knew she had it coming. "Ali, you knew about this?... You helped plan this?"
"Uh, yea? I like Rachel, she's super cool. Why wouldn't I help her?"
"I like Rachel, she's super cool. Why wouldn't I-" Lucy mocked her receptionist. "Because I'm your boss."
"No." Allison held up her finger to correct the blonde. "You're immature." Lucy only folded her arms and let out a huff. She didn't have time to have petty conversations with the other woman. She needed to figure out how she was going to survive the wrath she had undoubtedly called upon herself. Save for the obvious answer of saying yes to have a baby. Lucy just couldn't do that.
"Things didn't go so well I take it?" Allison concludes.
"You think?" Lucy said exasperated, not only does she have to go home to a plotting wife she also has to put all her work on hold for the time being, meaning she's going to be way behind on Monday. "Just clear the rest of my schedule for today I'm going to call it in early today... You can leave as well." Quinn said before standing to exit.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
If there was one thing that Lucy had to pick to hate in her and Rachel's relationship and she did mean hate, then she would have to choose the arguments. They were rare, with Rachel not being quick to anger and Lucy always holding things in until the last minute, disagreements between them were usually sparse.
That is until now. Lucy wouldn't say this was a heated argument exactly, but an argument that could quickly turn that way none the less.
"So why don't you want to have a baby Quinn?" Rachel asked cooly as she placed more ingredients in the pot and Lucy sat behind the bar watching her wife.
"Rachel, I don't like kids, and you know this." The blonde huffed and laid her head in her hand.
The brunette shrugged and shook her head. "Yea, so? You don't like other people's kids, but you'd obviously love your own. You're going to need a much better excuse than that." Rachel just wasn't buying anything she said when it came to this matter. She'd been wanting this for a while.
"I'm not coming up with excuses... I just don't want kids." There was a big bang as Rachel slammed down the cutting board that she was holding. This was obviously the climax of the argument. Things had only been escalating up until this point like a roller coaster slowly traveling upward it finally reached it's peak. It was finally about to drop.
"And why not Lucy? Because all you've been saying is no, no, no. Okay, I get that you don't want to have kids, but why not? People usually have valid reasons as to why they don't want them."
Lucy wasn't easily swayed by her wife's sudden change in demeanor. She needed to stay calm in this situation. Why didn't she want kids? Lucy thought... She just didn't like them. That was it. But Rachel wouldn't take that answer, she hadn't taken that answer. "I just don't want them." The blonde threw nonchalantly.
The brunette turned to face her wife fully. Lucy was expecting, at the very least, to see anger and determination in the other woman's eyes. But she got something completely different. Rachel looked nervous. "I-is, is it-" Rachel clamped her mouth shut before taking a deep breath and trying again. "Is it me?" The brunette asked, visibly tense. "Are you just neglecting to say that you don't want to have kids with me?"
"Rachel, don't be ridiculous." Quinn was quick to brush her off. "I just don't want them is all."
The brunette eyed her wife suspiciously for a moment before she accepted that answer and did a small pivot and continued to prepare their dinner. "So..." Rachel began. "I have a proposition for you."
"No..." Lucy muttered and dropped her head on the marble bartop.
"No, you'll like this." Rachel quipped. "So, I want to have a baby, and you don't right?" The brunette asked just to be sure. Her wife looked up at her with a face full of curiosity and hesitantly nodded her head. "Alright, so what if I can... convince you to want children?"
"What if I can convince you that you don't want kids."
Rachel let out a scoff. "So when I convince you that you do indeed want kids, we'll have kids."
Lucy recognized the challenge in her wife's voice. She made eye contact with the brunette and saw that she was already suited up for war. The blonde wasn't going to back down. "And when I convince you that we don't want kids, nor do we need them then you will owe me a vacation in Venice and sex on the beach."
"I've already picked out a few suitable donors. You can have the final say once I prove you wrong and we begin the journey to get pregnant."
Lucy rolled her eyes and bit back a smile. Why was this so amusing to her? "Oh, yea well I've already picked out hotels for us." She lied lamely.
"I hope they're kid friendly." Her wife smiled sweetly.
"You're not going to win." Lucy replied.
"No I know for a fact that you are not going to win."
"Oh yea, and why is that?"
"Because I'm Rachel Berry, and in the Berry family we do not give up until we get exactly what we want." Rachel said as she walked over to the bar where her wife was. "I am destined for success."
Lucy needed a comeback, there was no way Rachel got to win every battle. "Yea, well you're forgetting about one small detail." The blonde folded her arms and wore a triumphant smile.
"What?" She asked with challenge lacing her voice.
Lucy raised her left hand in the same manner that Rachel had done it earlier that day. "You changed your last name to Fabray when you married me. How successful will you be now, Berry?"
Rachel only stared at her wife with an adoring smile spread across her face. She leaned forward and looped her hand around to the back of Lucy's head and pulled her in for a chaste kiss. "I love you so much." She pulled away just enough to talk. "But, you're going to make this too easy for me." Rachel laughed as she pulled away and began to walk back to the pots that were on the stove.
"You're going to regret this Berry."
"I'm a Fabray now." She threw over her shoulder before going back to preparing their dinner.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Both Lucy and Rachel laid in bed with a respectable amount of space in between them, and that's how the Blonde had known that Rachel was about to take this war serious. Since when she and her wife have anything respectable between them? That was wrong. She felt that soemthing needed to be said. "Baby..." Lucy called to her wife softly as she rolled over on her side. "I know we've declared war with each other, but we need to set some ground rules."
Rachel faced her wife and smiled sweetly. "Okay... Go ahead."
"Alright, so I get that you're my enemy... you're the bad guy here." Lucy said with a serious face which made Rachel laugh. "But you're still my wife, and I still love you. So this." She said motioning to the space that was still between them. "This won't work. My rule is that we can't bring the war into this bedroom. This is our war free zone. No fighting will happen here."
The brunette smiled as she scooted over to her wife and pressed her body flush up against the other woman. "Is that better?"
Lucy snuggled a little closer and wrapped her arm around the other woman. "That's perfect actually." She smiled with content, and kissed her wife on the neck.
"Good... So I have a rule too." Rachel said as she tilted her head for Lucy to gain better access.
"What?" She said between kisses.
"You're not allowed to kiss me like this at night, and then expect me to go to war with you in the morning."
"You started it. Now you must suffer the consequences." She made her way to her wife's lips and kissed her with urgency. She needed this. Rachel only let her wife take control, melting further and further with every kiss and touch.
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I think I'm overloading with Faberry. Too many ideas floating around in my head.