Chapter 1

Just Passing By

X

The world is black, white, and gray for everyone who has yet to meet their soulmate and until that one moment everything in the world seems a bit dull without colors. The moment two soulmates encounter each other, whether their eyes meet or not, their world will become colorful and even if the two soulmates didn't look at each other directly they will know that they have encountered each other however briefly and subtle the meeting was.

Quinn Fabray was seated in her office going over paper work when someone burst into her office.

"Q! Have you heard about the newest signed artist under us? She's got pipes! I mean, she's tiny as heck but she can really sing!" Santana said, not even bothering to hide her excitement. "I heard that she's some kind of Broadway type who is considered the hottest Broadway Star from the last few years when she first hit it big."

"And?" Quinn asked with only slight exasperation, "Why should I care about someone I don't even know?"

Santana rolled her eyes, "because she's really good. I mean we've got some really good artists under your representation. Mercedes Jones is an R&B Queen, Sam Evans is Country Gold, and Noah Puckerman is like the new Barry Manilow. But this … this girl is even better than all of them combined!"

Quinn sighed as she finally put her paperwork down and looked up at her best friend with a look that said she was indulging Santana right now. "Okay, so she's better than everyone I currently have a contract with but why exactly do you want me to talk to her so badly?" Quinn asked, taking the bait.

There was a moment where they just looked at each other, "she could be the one you're meant to love Quinn. I know that you haven't really ever been the type to go looking, you're not supposed to anyways, but don't you want to find the one, the person who will make your life brighter and take away the dullness, the monotony of black, white, and gray and turn it into a world of colors? Don't you want that?" Santana explained softly.

Quinn squeezed her eyes shut tightly at the mention of something they had been through before. She took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. "Can you please quit saying things like that? I know, I get it, the whole life is so much better after you find your soul mate thing. It's the way the world works and it makes life so much better, makes living, and for you, breadsticks taste even better than they already do. And you even say things about colors like green and you keep telling me it's awesome that instead of seeing different shades of gray or black for eye colors you can actually see someone's eye colors and you like to coordinate my outfits because apparently I dress 'blindly' every morning without knowing what colors I'm wearing. You've been telling me for the last few years that I'm a blonde and so is Britt but my eyes are hazel and hers are blue. I still don't know what those colors look like but I'm not waiting for it to happen out of nowhere. Anyway, S, I need to finish this paper work and then I'll go introduce myself to her okay?"

Just then someone came into the office without knocking or warning and tackled Santana. "SAN! Guess what, guess what?" Brittany asked excitedly, smiling at her lover and destined one with a smile on her face.

Santana smiled back softly, "what is it Britt?"

"The new artist at the company is a great dancer, not as good as Q though, and she wants me to help her with some dance choreography for some songs she's working on! She's really nice even though she talks a lot and kind of uh, says a lot of words I don't know. She even gave me a calendar with some big words with the definition and everything! Today's word is loquacious and it means someone who talks a lot! I think that Rachel is a loquacious person, San!" Brittany smiled widely and proudly at herself for remembering the word she'd just learned earlier today.

"Good job, Britt! You used it right!" Santana gave Brittany a quick congratulatory peck on the lips before moving her attention back to Quinn. "I expect you to talk to her before lunch because if you don't I'll bring her up here personally and you know how that goes," she said with a devious smirk on her face.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Tell her to go to conference room B in an hour and I'll be there and meet the damn woman you're practically drooling over."

Santana flushed a dark red that was visible over her tan, "I am not drooling over her! She's just got an amazing voice and I appreciate good singers. I am your biggest talent scout and it is part of my job to find you the best voices to bolster the company's name. We're known for being fair and looking for real talent. I never saw her on Broadway but I heard her singing as a guest on some talk show last week and I had to get her info because she was that good Q." Quinn had never heard her friend talk about any other client she had signed like this before so she gave her a look, calculating and analytical.

"Fine, bump it up to half an hour from now. I'll meet her in Conference Room B in half an hour and give her a personal tour if she's half as good as you say she is. I still need to finish this paperwork but I can manage it in at least half that time if you leave me in peace now to go over it." And with that Quinn went back to her paperwork but she knew that Santana was smirking at her and it was irritating her. Damn her.

X

Quinn usually preferred to take the stairs over the elevator and today was no exception. Almost no one else ever took these stairs because they would prefer waiting for the elevator and that elevator made her feel too claustrophobic with all of the other people pushing up against her. Quinn already had to feel trapped in such a tiny enclosed space but to have other people pressing up against her would have been too much for her. Even if no one was too close to her she still would have felt as if there wasn't enough space and she couldn't deal with that.

It was ten minutes before she was supposed to meet with her newly signed artist and so she walked to her office as she read the paper, attention almost completely absorbed by the paper.

Rachel Barbra Berry:

Age 24, DOB Decemeber 18, 1994

Height: 5' 2'

Vocal Range: Alto, Mezzo Soprano, Soprano

Rachel Barbra Berry was first known to be on stage for an Off-Broadway show at 20 years old and brought major success as the lead and the show became an on Broadway show after only a few weeks worth of shows. She is known for her flawless acting abilities, powerful vocals, and is usually the best dancer in the ensemble. Ever since she originated her own role at 22 no one has been able to stop the vocal powerhouse from winning her first Tony for her originated role at 22 years old. Not long after she won an Oscar for the release of the Theatrical Movie made for her originating role of Only One Hope Remains. Barely a year later Rachel Barbra Berry won an Emmy award for appearing in the, thoroughly applauded, genius of Torn Plans.

Quinn was so absorbed in reading that she barely glanced up with an apology when someone bumped into her and she didn't notice that the world had become colorful until she reached for the doorknob to the conference room and realized that she was looking at a color that wasn't black, gray, or white. She looked up from the black and white paper and frantically looked around her for someone else having a similar reaction to her slight freak out over the colors. Well, internally she was freaking out and externally she seemed to be calmly taking in her surroundings and searching for the person she had bumped into earlier. It couldn't possibly have been anyone else but the person who had bumped into her earlier when she was walking to the conference room. She saw no one in the hallways and no one else had been walking around this area other than the person she bumped into. Quinn looked down at her watch and realized that she didn't have the time to look for the person she was sure was her destined lover because she was cutting it close to the meeting room as it was. Sighing she trudged back to the meeting room.

Unbeknown to both women Rachel was having a similar problem. She was also searching for the person who had to be her soul mate because she realized that the ground she had been looking at was no longer an almost black color, it was a color she had never seen before. When she looked around, after having run into someone, she saw someone with hair color that was very light, and in the monochrome world would have been a light gray that was nearly white, disappear and it was then she realized that it was her soul mate she had run into and now she needed to catch up to her. Rachel wasn't sure where she was going to begin with, having become lost in the maze that was Fabray Records. She was supposed to go to conference room B for the meeting with the owner herself but she had gotten lost after someone else had given her directions, quite unclearly, to where the room for the meeting was. She had been wandering aimlessly in search of the illusive room. There were many hallways and only next to the doors were there actually signs marking the rooms and so it was difficult for Rachel to find the room she was supposed to be in within the next 10 minutes.

While Rachel had been wandering around she had run into someone reading some paperwork and they apologized to each other. This person had been wearing all white, a smart move in a monochromatic world, and so Rachel thought nothing of it until she realized, when she looked down at the ground, that the tiling on this floor was of many colors she had never seen before. There was some gray but there were also other colors she didn't know, some lighter colors and some black lines in between the tiles. It was this moment that she knew the woman, dressed in all white, she had bumped shoulders with was the one she had been waiting for her whole life, her soul mate. Rachel was searching almost frantically for the mystery woman she knew had to be her soul mate, someone she had been waiting to meet for more than 24 years of her life. She finally gave up when she somehow, miraculously in her opinion, stumbled on a room labeled, Conference Room B. Rachel had been so lost in her musings that she didn't realize that someone else was approaching her. This person was only slightly out of breath when they reached her and the reaction was almost immediate, a soft gasp left the woman coming closer to where Rachel was standing and completely obliviously to this other woman's turmoil. When Rachel turned around to see if there was anyone else around who could help her she happened to glance at the woman standing just a mere foot away from her, looking at her with an expression she couldn't read.

Both women stared at each other in complete awe of how beautiful they found each other. Rachel was openly looking at the woman before her while Quinn only looked at Rachel as if she were merely wondering who she was, no emotion could be read on her face at all. The staring match was broken by Quinn, who cleared her throat before speaking. "Are you the Rachel Barbra Berry my Head of Talent Management, Santana Lopez, recruited just a few days ago?" Quinn asked formally, her gaze was so piercing and intense Rachel didn't know if she looked at everyone that way or not. If she did the diva would be insanely jealous of all of those people.

Clearing her throat before answering, she knew her voice would come out a bit strangely if she didn't, Rachel nodded her head before replying verbally. "Yes, that would be me. I believe you must be the head of Fabray Records then? I apologize for not being here earlier but I wasn't given clear directions to this room by the person who was supposed to lead me here. In fact, I'm almost positive that they were told to lead me to the room but they disregarded those instructions and merely told me to take the elevator to the 8th floor and walk down the hallway until I found the right room." Rachel hadn't meant to let all of this slip but she was nervous and talking to cover up her nervousness. Quinn's face showed no flicker of emotions as she listened to the explanation that Rachel gave and made a mental note to find the associate responsible for such deplorable behavior.

"Did you happen to catch their name, Miss Berry?" Quinn asked, her voice not giving away her intentions in the least.

Rachel's face became thoughtful as she went through her memories. Her face scrunched up in thought and Rachel actually tapped a finger on her chin in thought, something Quinn didn't think she ever saw anyone else she'd ever met doing before. Quinn couldn't help but find the face she made cute but her face gave nothing away as she waited for the beautiful woman before her to answer. Finally Rachel brought her finger away from her face and snapped it as she made an 'aha' face. "I believe their name was Jesse St. Jones … or something like that." Quinn couldn't help the little snort that escaped her when she heard Rachel say the wrong last name. She couldn't help it, it was funny and she definitely had had her eye on him for a while for such behavior. Both Sebastian Smythe and Jesse St. James were known for being extremely unprofessional employees and she had wanted to fire them for quite some time now but she wanted a better reason than her immense dislike of the two individuals to do so. And now here it was, the perfect opportunity had presented itself. She finally had proof that they were rude employees and she would cite the reason for their being fired as receiving complaints from potential clients about their lack of professionalism and discourteousness. They would never be hired by someone in the business again if she could help it.

"Thank you, Miss Berry. I promise that Jesse St. Jackass … I mean Jesse St. James won't be bothering you or any future potential clients again." Quinn said coldly and when Rachel gave an indelicate snort as well Quinn let out a small smile in response to her mirth. "I apologize for the harsh, foul language but I've never liked that man and he has never liked me either, so we're in mutual dislike but he always tries to make the appearance of someone who wants to be in my good graces. You should have seen him when we first met. He was completely unaware of the fact that I am actually the head of this company and had the audacity to make himself out to be more important than he was. It was about four years ago when he had first joined this company as an entry level employee. I was sitting in one of the conference rooms and he happened to walk the clients into the wrong room to begin with because mine was clearly marked as one that said it was booked until noon and it was barely 11 when he opened the door to the room and announced that they were to meet with the Head of Talent Management Santana Lopez in this room." Rachel was completely enraptured by the woman's story. "He looked inside, saw me, and asked the clients to wait a moment while he dealt with someone who was clearly in the wrong room. As soon as he stepped inside he asked me who the hell I was and why I was in the conference meeting room that Santana Lopez was supposed to be in. I laughed in his face and asked him if he knew how to read. He was indignant and asked me if I knew how important he was to Fabray Records. He tried to imply that he was one of the managerial employees in the company and asked me if I was higher up than that. I asked him what he would do if the head of Fabray Records heard him say such a thing and his response was that she knew exactly who he was and how much of an asset he was to the company. I asked him what his name was and he, stupidly, replied with his full name, Jesse St. James. I laughed at him and introduced myself as Quinn Fabray, founder and head of Fabray Records and asked him what exactly it was I thought of him and how I was supposed to know who he was before this moment." Quinn stopped there, seeing the way Rachel was completely riveted by the story she was telling.

"What happened next?" she asked eagerly.

Quinn was pleased to see that Rachel was so immersed in what she was saying. It was a good feeling. "Well, he completely paled and started groveling and apologizing for not realizing who I was immediately. He went so far as to beg me to let him keep his job and I think at one point he cried. I asked him why he thought he deserved to keep a job at my company after so spectacularly making not only a complete fool of himself but acting so pompously towards me and lying about his position at the company. He told me that he knows talent when he hears it because he was formerly a part of a show choir and he had won four national show choir championships as the lead vocalist of said show choir. I decided that I would give him a chance but he had better never step out of line like that again and ever since that day I've been looking a reason, any reason, to prove that he doesn't deserve to work at my company because I have a certain image I want to uphold at this company and his arrogance is not one of them. And now that you've told me how he treated you earlier I'd like to have a little chat with him about his behavior towards you."

Upon hearing this Rachel wasn't sure if it meant Quinn was going to fire him or not but she wanted to know. "You're not … going to fire him are you, um, Miss Fabray?" Rachel asked tentatively, unsure of how she was supposed to address the woman.

"I won't say anything more than just the fact that I am going to have a discussion with him later on. And you can just call me Quinn, Miss Berry."

"Then you may refer to me as Rachel … Quinn." Rachel smiled at the woman who, for some reason she couldn't fathom, smiled back. She had never reacted this way to anyone other than Brittany. Santana was someone Quinn was more inclined to scowl at than smile and no one could help but smile around the effervescent Brittany S. Pierce, not even Satan incarnate Santana Lopez could. Well, it was sort of cheating considering they were each other's soulmates. It still counted in Quinn's book though.

Nervous as Quinn was she was also curious about something, something that Santana had somehow inadvertently predicted this morning. Quinn couldn't find the courage to ask though and so she said something else. "Shall we proceed?"

"I'm quite excited because I've heard many great things about your record label, Quinn."

X

The meeting didn't take very long and Quinn actually found herself smiling so much that her cheeks hurt because she wasn't used to such a feeling, the effort it took to smile was a bit strange for Quinn. She wanted to know more than ever if Rachel was the one she had been waiting for, for nearly 25 years of her life. She was more than a little curious but she couldn't bring herself to ask Rachel if she was the one she had bumped into in the hallway because that would answer the question of whether Rachel was her soulmate or not. She was almost one hundred percent certain that Rachel was the only one wandering around the hallway earlier because the hallways were empty and sound traveled in the empty halls. Not only that, but Rachel admitted to having been lost and wandering the hallways until she just happened to stumble upon the room by chance earlier. That meant she had to have been the only one in the hallway that Quinn could have possibly bumped into before the world exploded into such vibrant colors and she knew that meant that the monotony of life was over and now she could live life with a kind of vibrancy that Santana was always talking about. Rather it was mostly Brittany and Santana only occasionally said something about it because she didn't like mushy things or being 'sappy' but when Santana did say something about it, boy was she ever waxing poetic about it. It was almost cute that Santana was a secretly romantic person at heart.

Rachel couldn't help but find this stunning woman extremely attractive and she knew, without a doubt, that she wanted to know more about this woman standing next to her and showing her around the building when she could have easily found another employee to do so. Rachel wasn't sure if she was the one she was looking for, the person she had bumped into, but she couldn't help but hope that it was this gorgeous and kind woman playing tour guide when she was the owner and could easily have only made a contract and left it at that but was instead leading her around like it was no big deal when Rachel was sure that Quinn was the kind of person who didn't typically take the time to do such things. Quinn was known for being a ruthless business woman but a very fair employer and the story Quinn told Rachel earlier of her first encounter with Jesse St. Johns just proved it to her.

Before Quinn could leave her on her own at the lobby area Rachel gently tugged on Quinn's sleeve, something that Quinn would normally never tolerate anyone else other than Brittany doing. "If you're not … busy around noon … is there any chance you might have the time to perhaps … maybe … get coffee or … lunch with me?" Rachel was a normally intense, blunt person but she found herself becoming shy and awkward around beautiful woman, like a school girl around her crush.

Giving Rachel a soft, affectionate smile, one that many of the employees milling about noticed and sort of gawked at the sight of such an adoring smile from their employer to someone who wasn't Brittany. It was unheard of and more than enough reason for the majority of them to stare at the sight for just a few moments before resuming business as usual and well before the woman noticed and turned her Ice Queen charms on them for not working. They didn't want to be the next Jesse St. James. "I would love to do both with you. Did you have anywhere in mind?"

She was blushing and she knew it. She was thankful for having rather dark skin and hoped that Quinn couldn't see the flush of her warm cheeks. She'd seen it happen to someone with lighter skin before, their cheeks and sometimes neck becoming a darker shade then the rest of them and those who could see color often referred to this phenomena as blushing. "Well, I would like for you to decide since it is your time, more than mine that is in demand at the current moment."

A bigger smile, something even Brittany had never seen, broke out on Quinn's features. They were quite lovely features, they were. "Well … I do happen to know that you're a Vegan, Rachel, so I'm sure that I have the perfect place in mind for us to dine together in about an hour." The surprise on Rachel's face caused Quinn to grin even wider. It made Rachel wonder why everyone seemed to think the blonde was so cold when she had been nothing but warm to Rachel since they first encountered each other about her contract.

"How did you know?" Rachel's shocked face was adorable to Quinn. She couldn't help but find many things endearing about the woman she was almost 100% sure was her soulmate.

"Well, I just so happened to be reading the profile Santana comprised for me as per my request and it was quite long, two and a half pages. Take it as a compliment that she wrote so much because for the most part Santana tries to compile it so that it all fits into one page because she doesn't like to waste her time unnecessarily, so the fact that she wrote so much about you means that she really wanted you to sign with us here. So, we'll meet here in about an hour? I would like to surprise you with where we're eating if that's okay with you?" Rachel nodded her head vigorously and Quinn found that endearing as well.

"I'll see you then!" Rachel waved enthusiastically as Quinn left, smiling at Rachel one last time. Chuckling as they parted ways Quinn nodded her head and headed off to deal with less pleasant company.

X

When she arrived at her office she called for Jesse's cell phone from her office. Once he picked up she didn't let him even greet her before she spoke into the phone, "come up to my office immediately St. James," she hung up before he could say a word and within five minutes of her phone call he was panting and out of breath in front of her office door. "Enter," she said before he could so much as catch his breath or knock on the door. "I would like to speak with you about something St. James. Have a seat on the armchair so we can talk like civilized people." Quinn's voice was so cold Jesse felt shivers run up and down his spine. He knew the woman was ruthless and cutthroat only to keep her business up and running but she was really good to her employees. He didn't like the sound of her voice or the cold fury in her eyes as he gazed at her in monochrome. The fact that she was so quiet scared him. He liked it better when someone was angry and yelling instead of her calm, collected anger.

"Y-yes, Miss Fabray." He had learned a long time ago to never sound condescending around the woman again. The only reason he was still allowed to work here, and he knew it, was because she gave him a second chance but she never allowed him many advances in the company. His official title was that of being a part of the Client Happiness Crew but he knew that he was really still in a barely above entry level work in the company. He had no one but himself to blame for his utter stupidity in his blunder from so many years ago. Quinn's voice brought him back to the present.

"I had a meeting today with a client who told me about your less than polite manner towards her. She was, at the time, a potential client. I suppose you know what the difference between potential client and an actual client is … correct St. James?" He nodded his head, knowing not to speak unless she told him she wanted an answer out of his mouth. "Well, I'm getting the feeling that you forgot because this potential client told me you were supposed to guide her to the conference room she was meeting me in, not to give her useless vague directions to the room in question, St. James. A client can be kept if they are already familiar with us a potential client can leave us at any point in time before signing a contract due to negligent behavior such as the one you displayed St. Jackass. So, I would like to ask you, what reason could I possibly want to keep you within this company Jesse St. Stupid?" He knew he was in deep shit because he had never seen or heard his employer sound so unnervingly cold or swear for that matter. He must have done something to really piss her off because the look on her face was one he had never seen before. When he had been rude to her years ago, she didn't even look nearly as angry as she did now.

Jesse swallowed hard as he looked at the quietly angry woman seated before him. "I … I … may I ask what I did wrong today?" his voice was barely above a whisper but Quinn heard him clearly.

"The potential client I had a meeting with today was Rachel Barbra Berry and she was almost late because she wasn't shown directly to the room in which our meeting was to take place barely half an hour ago. She told me that it was due to a worker she believed to be named Jesse St. Jones and there are no other employees here with a name relatively similar to yours and that leaves me with a single conclusion. You mistreated a potential client, someone who had every right not to sign a contract with my company because of your uncouth manners. Santana Lopez head hunts talent St. Slow to comprehend. She looks for only the best to join this company and she told me that out of all of the people she has personally head hunted that Miss Berry is the best because of her talented voice. After I watched a live performance of hers I was more than inclined to agree to Santana's assessment and because your inability to do your job right I could have lost her! I am firing you as of right now, your termination has already been completed and access card no longer works. I am also going to make sure you can never work in this business again because you lack not only professionalism but also because of this: if you cannot listen to orders from the highest chain of command in a company who will you listen to? Your mother? Maybe your own parents but whatever the case, you have been terminated and there's no way you can tell me or any other potential employer that you quit from this job because I have already made sure your files reflect your lack of hard work for my company. You may now leave my office St. James." With that Jesse sat stunned for several moments before he left quietly. He was never cut out for this job anyways because he really couldn't care less about other people's happiness, so he left with wobbling footsteps, wondering what he could possibly do to find another job now.

With that taken care of Quinn now only had one kiss up of epic proportions to deal with in her company. One less idiot to deal with, one more to go. Quinn shook her head when she realized something rather important. She had never asked Rachel for her phone number. Then again she was sure Santana had to have the woman's number because they had to have had some contact in order for Rachel to have made it to Quinn's record company.

Rachel was sitting downstairs in the lobby area lamenting the same problem. That and she needed to call both Kurt and Blaine, who was she kidding, call one and the other was bound to be there to listen in on the conversation. The were inseparable men. She needed to tell them that she had finally found her one and she needed to ask Kurt about colors seeing as she had no idea what was what, never having seen anything so beautiful before in her life. She was more than happy by herself when someone else came along to make this day even better.

"Hi Rachel! What are you doing down here?" Brittany exclaimed. Rachel couldn't wait to tell the bubbly blonde all about it. Kurt could wait since she could ask the blonde about colors while she was there waiting for Quinn to meet up with her for lunch and some coffee. Rachel knew only one thing about her soulmate and it was that they were someone who worked at Fabray Records and they had yellow hair and had been wearing what seemed like all white to her. Well, technically she knew two things about her soulmate because she also knew her soulmate was a woman from the brief glance she had given the woman who had bumped into her when the world exploded into colors.

X

So this is the first chapter! It is a bit boring in my opinion but please tell me your thoughts in a review if you're so inclined! I hope the next chapter is more exciting for everyone! I always forget to say this whenever I write other stories so I appreciate all reviewers, even unsigned guest reviews are greatly appreciated!^^

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