Twins
A year and two months after Ares was born, Rachel had marched into Santana's office and demanded that the older woman get her pregnant. After Santana had stopped laughing and realized that her wife was serious, things had gone crazy.
Both of their eggs. Rachel carrying them. Nine months of nonstop cray cray. And two beautiful girls who turned out to be terrifyingly close replicas of their mothers.
Who were now having the exact opposite high school experiences.
Ava was Santana from head to toe. But in terms of how she was doing in school? Definitely getting Rachel's side of the deal. She was in animation club and had a community service record that would make Mother Teresa look like a slacker. Unfortunately, none of this counted in the popularity war that still raged on at McKinley.
Allie, on the other hand, was Rachel's clone as far as looks. She was in gymnastics, a fashionista in training, and hugely popular. It was something she tried not to draw attention to…. Something they all did their best not to bring up, unless it was something important. It was a sore spot for many different reasons.
"No, you're not doing it!"
Quinn and Brittany debated going inside. The screaming had gotten louder in the last few minutes, but they couldn't figure out what was happening. They peeked inside and saw the two girls standing nearly nose to nose. The twins didn't even look around when their moms stepped inside the room.
"You can't tell me what to do, Allie!"
"You're going to get slushied to hell and back if you do this!"
"It's not like I'm not used to it!"
The two blondes flinched.
"I don't want you to be used to it! Just…for god's sake! Try to act normal!"
"Yeah? And what's normal? Starving yourself for the gymnastics team?"
"Oh shut up!"
"Alright, enough!" Quinn yelled over the two.
The girls stood glaring at each other.
"What's going on?"
"She's giving a speech on her stupid tomato energy project," Allie grumbled.
"Just because you and your jock friends couldn't do it—"
"ENOUGH," Quinn called again. "Ava, it's a great project and you should be proud of it. Did someone ask you to do a speech, or did you volunteer?"
Ava looked down. "Volunteered."
"Again? Definitely something you should be proud of. But you have to remember that there are 500 other kids at your school who are all doing stuff that they're proud of too. I'm not saying do it or don't do it…just take into account the fact that if you go around showing off every one of your numerous and varied accomplishments…kids will get tired of being happy for you."
Ava grumbled something noncommittal.
"Thank you," Allie yelped, relieved. "That's all I was trying to say."
"And you, young lady…" Quinn said, turning to her. "Maybe you could try to protect your sister?"
"Quinn, no…." Brittany said, in a low voice.
Allie turned to her with the full force of indignant teenage angst in her eyes. "Try? Try and protect her? What the hell do you want me to do?" she nearly screamed.
"Hey—"
"No! I'm tired!" she yelled, tears coming to her eyes. "I'm tired of trying to defend her, and get everyone to stop the slushies. I may be popular, but that doesn't mean people actually listen to me! I got people to stop making fun of her band shirts, and she and her friends come to school dressed as Harry Potter characters. So then I had to defend her for that. I somehow managed to get the hockey team to quit flicking erasers at her during history, and then she goes on a student body election campaign about cutting funding for 'over glorified athletics'. I can't keep up!" she screamed.
"Allie, baby," Quinn said, alarmed at how hysterical her daughter was getting. "I get it—"
"No you don't! I'm tired!" she yelled, with a little less force since now she was gasping for breath.
"Allie!" Brittany said, running to her as she collapsed.
"She's sleeping now. She hasn't been eating," Quinn explained to Santana over the phone. "I don't know how I didn't—"
"No, Quinn," Santana said firmly. "You will NOT beat yourself up over this. Ares is on his way home, and so am I. I'll get in touch with Rachel. You just stick with the girls until we get there."
"I love you."
"Love you more. Kiss the munchkins for me."
Quinn hung up and walked back into Allie's room. She hugged Ava tightly as they and Brittany watched Allie sleep.
"I didn't…I'm sorry I didn't tell you," Ava said, sniffling. "I knew she'd been skipping lunch. I should have said something."
"Shhh…no one blames you, honey," she said. "And no one knew she wasn't eating breakfast either. It's going to be okay."
Brittany reached over and took Ava's hand. "Do you want to come walk with me? I need a Gatorade, and so do you two."
Ava managed a weak smile and nodded.
Quinn moved closer to her other daughter once they'd left.
"Mom?"
"Hey, honey," Quinn said, smiling. "Just rest, okay? You had a panic attack."
"Where's Allie?"
"She and Britt just went in search of sports drinks. You know how they are about their Gatorade."
Eyes still closed, Allie smiled, then frowned. "Don't let her worry. I don't want her to think this is her fault."
"Shh…it's okay. Everything's okay. I'm sorry about what I said. I know you both look after each other. Rest."
She watched as a look of calm washed over her daughter's face, and breathed a little easier for the first time that evening.