Faberry Week Day 2: Meeting Frannie
A/N: Hey guys. Happy Faberry Week. This was really rushed because I thought Meeting Frannie was tomorrow, but I hope it's still good. Enjoy. If you have anything to tell me, review or tweet me ImASlave4Dianna Love, T
Quinn rolled on the floor laughing. All day long, she and Rachel had shared embarrassing or touching stories of when they were younger, trying to fill the gaps they still had after dating since graduation. Quinn had told Rachel all about her past, the Lucy Caboosey dilemma, that she had previously only mentioned and the changes she had gone through, most of them to get the brunette's attention. Rachel had shared everything about the singing classes she had taken ever since she was a child. Three years after performing it, she had also admitted that Get It Right was never even remotely about Finn, but always about Quinn, which the blonde had obviously known, but regretted to not have noticed during high school. After Rachel had played her the second song she had ever written Only Child, Quinn couldn't suppress laughter and fell off their bed giggling.
"Excuse me, Ms Fabray. You will never hear any of my songs ever again."
Quinn, concerned that her girlfriend might actually be mad, did her best to stop laughing. After failing miserably, always overwhelmed by another wave of laughter, she finally caught her breath
"It's not bad, it's just… the lyrics. You are such a drama queen."
"Well, being an only child is hard. You wouldn't understand."
Quinn bit her lip and looked away, her eyes slowly filled with tears, no matter how hard she tried to hold them back. Rachel, in shock about what she had just said without thinking, jumped off the bed to take her blonde into her arms.
"Sorry, Quinn. I didn't mean to say that. I know you miss her."
"It's ok."
"It's not."
Rachel knew Quinn was hurt, but she also saw one of the first chances to actually talk about what had happened to Frannie. For years, she had been trying to piece the puzzle together, but whenever she mentioned her around Quinn or her parents, they blocked her off or just fell into silence. She knew that Quinn's sister had one day just packed her stuff up and left the Fabray household after a fight with her parents. That's what she had gathered. And she also knew Quinn missed her every day. The two girls had grown up together and when Quinn was eight, Frannie just left. Rachel still sometimes caught Quinn, when the blonde had that look in her eyes, that look of being left behind. Quinn always played it cool, but Rachel knew that she was missing someone. And now after seeing her reaction to what Rachel had just said, she knew exactly who it was.
"It really is. If I wanted to talk to Frannie, I always could."
"What do you mean?"
"I have her number."
"You have her number? And you never called her?""
"I wouldn't know what to say."
Quinn turned her attention back to the box of photo albums Rachel had brought from Ohio to their NYC apartment, trying to change the topic once again. Rachel, however, realized that if she wanted to help Quinn, she had to do something. She took the photo album from the blonde and looked into her eyes.
"Quinn, I love you but I think you need to hear this. You miss her. I know you do. I see that you do. You usually are a woman of actions. I don't know why you wouldn't reach out to Frannie, if you could. That is not Quinn Fabray behavior. You are not the kind of person who just gives up. What is it that is holding you back?"
Quinn gulped and she had the same look in her eyes that she had had when she first told Rachel she had feelings for her, a look of fear, but also just enough confidence to share something important. Rachel knew Quinn was close to opening up to her. She just needed one more push.
"Trust me. Talk to me. I am here for you."
"She left me. She left me behind. I'm scared, Rachel."
"Scared of what?"
"Scared that Frannie doesn't want to talk to me. She obviously doesn't need to. She didn't call once. So why would I?"
"Because you want to talk to her."
"I don't."
"You do."
"What would I say? Hi, little sister here, are you dead or did you just forget I exist? Wanna grab coffee sometime and talk about everything that happened since you just vanished of the earth, so pretty much everything good that ever happened to me? Are you married? Did you know I'm gay now? Do you even remember my name? Do you even care?", Quinn ranted, her voice getting closer to the point of breaking with every word.
"Quinn."
"What?", she shouted, making Rachel flinch
"You're crying."
Quinn touched her cheek and felt the tears streaming out of her eyes and realized once again, there was no point trying to lie to Rachel.
"I do want to talk to her. I do miss her. I do need her. But what does it change? She doesn't care about me."
"Maybe, there is a reason she didn't call."
"Like what?"
"We don't know until you call."
"Do you really think that's smart?"
"I think you. know if you want to call."
Quinn rolled her eyes, annoyed by the unclear answer and by the fact that Rachel knew she knew. Rachel saw her annoyance and kissed her girlfriend until no more tears were flowing out of her eyes and she knew Quinn would call.
"Is this it?"
"Yeah, apartment 17."
Quinn had called that same night and talked to Frannie. While nervous and kind of short spoken, her sister had seemed delighted to hear from her, but didn't want them to catch up over the phone but in person, especially after hearing Quinn lived in New York as well.
"Are you nervous?"
"Terrified."
"Do you still want to do this?"
Quinn thought about it. She did have a lot to say. She had a lot to blame Frannie for, she had a lot of things to scream at her and she also wanted to hug her and just be with her sister, who she hadn't seen in 14 years. She wanted to be reunited and introduce her to Rachel and she was excited to see how those two would get along. She was terrified and excited.
Quinn took Rachel's hand, smiled at her faking reassurance and rang the doorbell. They heard some rummaging and it opened.
"OH MY GOD! Lucy!", a female voice shrieked, "I missed you so much, I am so happy to see you again. Oh wait you go by Quinn now, right? You have grown so much. You look gorgeous. I knew you would grow up to be pretty, I just never expected you to look like this."
"Frannie. I am happy to see you too," Quinn said smiling insecurely.
"So where is that girl you kept talking about?"
Quinn, overwhelmed with the joy of being reunited with her sister and the fear of not having a friendly reunion, gestured towards Rachel, Rachel, who stood there shocked, with her mouth open, a face Frannie mimicked when she saw and recognized Rachel.
"Schwimmer?"
"Miss July?"
After the initial shock and denial that her monster of a dance teacher was the older sister of the love of her life, Rachel just tried to breathe and make a sense of it. Cassandra July equals Frannie Fabray… Cassie sat on the other side of the coffee table in an equal state of shock. How did the student she'd love to torment end up dating her sister?
Quinn sat there overwhelmed. She had heard Rachel's stories about Miss July. She was a bitch, even more than Quinn was in high school. She tortured Rachel and used every possibility to hurt her self-esteem that Quinn had had such a hard time building up. The blonde couldn't take the silence and the tense scares any longer and asked the question that all three had on their mind.
"How?"
"Do you guys want to start? I guess my story is longer. How did you find my sister and start seeing her, Schwimmer?"
"My name is Rachel. And we met in high school."
"And you dated ever since then? Wow, not many people do that."
"We are in love. You'd know if you had ever been there," Quinn spat out.
Rachel, in an effort to calm her down before she got too bitchy, took her hand in hers.
"I guess I deserved that."
"Yes you did. You left me alone, Frannie. Do you know how it was to have both of our parents against me? You were always their favorite and then you left and they just had fat Lucy."
"They loved you."
"Did they? The first time they paid attention to me was after I got my nose job and after I got pretty."
"I am sorry, Lucy."
"Quinn."
"Quinn."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why did you leave?"
"They never told you?"
"They said you had a fight, nothing else."
"I thought they had told you. I… I told them I didn't want to go to law school. I told them I wanted to make it on Broadway. They said I wasn't talented enough and that I'd fail and that that would embarrass them."
"You left for Broadway?"
"Quinn, I know this sounds weird, but I really thought I could make it."
"It doesn't sound weird to me. I'm dating Rachel Berry. Leaving for what makes you happy is the best reason to leave, but why did you never call or say anything."
"Because they were right. I didn't make it. I failed miserably. I had a horrible agent who told me that Frannie Fabray and especially Frannie sounded like a hooker name, so I took my second name."
"Cassandra Fabray I'd understand, but where did the July come from?"
"I got married. It was a mistake and ultimately what cost me my career. Did Rachel show you the video of my Broadway debut?"
"No, I would have recognized you."
"I was drunk. He got me drunk at a party. He said a drink before the show would relax me and one drink became two and two became a lot. He is the one who got me that reputation, the reputation of a train wreck."
"Frannie, I'm so sorry."
"I failed at everything and you know how our parents would react if they found out. They would kill me or laugh at me. I had to leave them behind completely and that meant leaving you behind too."
Rachel looked at Quinn trying to read her girlfriend's feelings. Quinn was confused, processing all what she had just heard and trying to figure out how all the rage she had felt towards Frannie had just somehow turned into empathy. Frannie wasn't a bad person, she was a person with broken dreams, a person who tried to fly and fell.
"You didn't have to cut me off. I would have been there for you. But I see why you did now."
"Do you think you can ever see me as your sister and not the person who abandoned you again?"
"You are my sister, Frannie. Nothing could ever change that and to be honest after hearing your story, I think you need your sister right now. You need someone. You need your family."
"I don't think our parents would want me back."
"They do. I see it when something reminds them of you. Like your old shoes or something you once drew. I see that they miss you and I know that they love you."
"Do you think they would ever accept me? I am a Broadway reject. Fabrays don't get rejected."
"I never thought that they'd accept me as a lesbian, but they love Rachel and treat her like a daughter now. They hate that I am not perfect according to their loyal straight housewife picture, but they love me and see that I am perfect the way I am. It took them long to accept me, but now they do, so, yes, I think they will accept that you have been kicked out of one production because of one mistake."
"Thanks Quinn."
"For what?"
"Not giving up on me, even after all I did to you."
"I would never give up on you, Frannie. So don't you dare let me down and talk to mom and dad."
"I will. I promise."
They spent the rest of the afternoon talking about everything, catching up on each other's lives, something Quinn had always dreamt of, but never though that it could come true. All three of them laughed and cried and Quinn was glad Rachel had come with her. She needed somebody who knew what she wanted to hear more than she did herself. She wanted to hear about the guy who made Frannie fall in love, she needed to hear about Frannie's love for Broadway, she needed to hear that Frannie had thought of her every day the same way Quinn had. And Rachel knew. Rachel knew them both and knew what buttons to push to make them talk and open up. Slowly, much to her surprise, Rachel and Frannie even got along after they got to know each other a little better outside the class room and Schwimmer slowly transitioned into Rachel.
"Will you stay while I call our parents?", Frannie suddenly burst out, while Quinn and Rachel discussed what to cook for dinner.
Quinn's eyes fell into that distant stare they got when she was pondering something in her head.
"She's thinking about it," Rachel explained.
"I know. She used to do that exact thing right before stealing some of my make up when she thought I didn't watch."
"I'm here, you know."
"Yeah, we do," Frannie said, smiling sheepishly.
"I won't stay."
"Why not?"
"This is something you should do by yourself. I'll be one phone call away, if you need me, but I don't want to put words in your mouth. You need to talk to them yourself."
"It's probably smarter, you're right. I'm just scared, because I left them and now I want back in."
Rachel started laughing.
"Rach!", Quinn shouted, "I know she wasn't fair to you in class, but this is serious."
"I'm not laughing because Cassie July is afraid. I am laughing because I see how much Frannie Fabray is like Quinn Fabray. You said almost the exact same thing before you called her. You said you were afraid and look how it played out. Pessimism apparently runs in the Fabray family, just like changing your first name to your second."
Quinn and Frannie shared a look of amusement and agreed.
"I'll call. Thanks Schwimmer."
"You're welcome Cassie July, aka even more of a hooker name than Frannie Fabray."
"Says Rachel Berry," Frannie whipped back.
"Calm down, you two. Oh god, is this what this will always be like?", Quinn moaned, making the other two laugh hysterically.
"I hope so," Frannie said smiling at her and grabbing one her hands, softly squeezing it.
"Thanks," Quinn said.
They were having freshly made pancakes for dinner as a celebration of how well the day went.
"What for?"
"Meeting Frannie with me, encouraging me to call her, listening to me, helping me reach out and knowing me, knowing what I needed and guiding me to getting it."
"Well, technically, I didn't meet Frannie. I met Cassandra before."
"Yes, you met your dance teacher. But today, you met my sister and you managed to give her back to me and make me meet the new her. Thank you for that. I'll never be able to repay you."
"You don't need to. You're welcome. You would have done the same thing for me."
"Did you mean it?"
"Did I mean what?"
"That being an only child is hard. I am sorry I just laughed at your song. If I think about what I had missed, if I hadn't had Frannie…"
"Calm down. That song was hideous. I know that. I am an only child, but I don't care. I got all the attention I needed. I got all the love I ever wanted from my dads. And from you."
"I do give out a lot of love.""
"Don't flatter yourself, Fabray. You know you like to take love more," Rachel said, winking at Quinn mischievously.
Quinn smiled back at her girlfriend, surprised by the sudden turn of topic and the built-up tension from the whole day that had somehow changed into lust for Rachel.
"Right now?", Quinn asked, dropping her fork.
Rachel got up and took her girlfriends hand, leading her to the bed.
"Right now!"