…the heart is.
Quinn set the last box of kitchen things on the floor and looked around. They'd been moving in stages, so their modest two bedroom, one bathroom house looked like a sort of tiny museum. They had furniture, and most of the "office" (spare bedroom/library/thing) and living room were unpacked. So now it was just the kitchen and bedroom that needed sorting.
Rachel had graduated six months ago, and moved back in with her dads while Quinn finished her last semester. They'd spent it house/apartment hunting every other weekend, and job hunting as well. When she'd graduated last month, she'd accepted a position as an admissions counselor at a small private college in New York. And just that past week, Rachel had gotten a call back - she was the new Elphaba in Wicked. Their dreams were coming together, and even though they were just renting for now, it still felt like home.
She sighed and started unwrapping the dishes from the newspaper and bubble wrap.
"Nope," came a cheerful voice from the doorway. Rachel was leaning in, dodging some boxes. "I worked all day, and we're going to go celebrate all of said hard work."
"What all did you get done?" Quinn asked, smiling as she followed Rachel through the maze of boxes.
Rachel stopped in front of the door to the right of the bathroom. "Ta da!" she said, opening it.
Quinn's smile turned into a huge grin as she looked at their bedroom. She picked Rachel up and spun her around. "It looks amazing!"
Their furniture had been delivered, and Quinn knew Rachel probably had all of the clothes put away (and color coded). Their bed was a king sized cherry oak monstrosity that had been a gift from Rachel's dads. She loved it - it was a true "princess bed". They had the dresser and nightstands to match, and Rachel had done all of the other room accents in a tasteful, peaceful blue and bronze color scheme. She tossed Rachel onto the bed and climbed on top of her giggling girlfriend.
"You like it?" Rachel asked.
"I love it," Quinn said. "I love you."
… you hang your hat.
It had started out of sheer laziness. Rachel had been in the middle of a week of twelve-hour rehearsals, and Quinn had been in the middle of travel season. Thus, the tiny loveseat near their door became a catch-all for everything. Missing your keys? Check the loveseat. Coat? Loveseat. Pack your lunch last night and can't find it? Loveseat. Any random bit of mail from the past month? Probably the loveseat.
The problem with this was that the pair of them were both neatfreaks. By the second month of this, Rachel was ready to burn the damn thing to the ground with everything on it, and Quinn had developed a twitch.
"We can't go on like this!" Rachel said dramatically.
Quinn swiped a few letters, a scarf, her empty lunchbox, and Rachel's stuffed dog Gilbert off, still searching for her campus I.D. "AHA!" she yelled triumphantly, spotting it under a DVD case. "And, for the record, why do we own From Justin, to Kelly?"
"Don't judge me. Seriously, Quinn, we have to fix this. What if this mess spreads to the rest of the house?"
They both shuddered at the thought.
Quinn gave Rachel a quick kiss and picked up her keys from the armrest. "I have an idea. I'll take care of it after work. Have a good rehearsal, Elphie."
"Thanks, babe."
Rachel came home that night around nine. She noticed something immediately. There was a storage shelf right next to the door, in between the wall and the loveseat. Quinn had already put her shoes in one of the nine cubbyholes. There was also a little coat rack just above it. She grinned and hung up her jacket and bag, and slipped her sneakers into the shelf.
"Quinn?"
"Hey Rach, I'm in the office."
Rachel peeked into the second bedroom and laughed.
Quinn was on the floor, various piles of mail in stacks around her, and a shredder just in front of her. "Everything else was an easy fix," she said. "But we've just got to start going through the mail like grown ups."
"Scoot over," Rachel said, sitting down to help her.
… the pets sleep.
They'd tried to hold out. Really, they had. Quinn especially, since she had to travel for work. But in the end, they'd caved. Rachel was lonely when Quinn was away, and Quinn got bored and lonely when Rachel was away. Therefore, after only a year of living together, the pets began to take over. First it was just a cat, but Tolliver Harold Smythehiggins the Fourth (Oli for short) had been like a gateway drug to other critters. Now there was him, their dog Toby (an excitable Husky puppy who though he was also a cat), their hamster Lucius, Rachel's hedgehog Sebastian, and Quinn's snake Balthazar.
Kurt had made a comment about Dr. Doolittle the last time he'd visited.
"I fed all of them," Quinn said. "We might need to take Toby out one more time before bed, though."
"I can do it. I need to grab a bottle of water anyway."
They relaxed in each others arms for a moment, listening to the nighttime rustle of their menagerie.
"Q?"
"Yep, Rach?"
"Can we get a parrot?"
… you feel safe.
Rachel was a fan of morning rehearsals. Done by noon, and then you got to enjoy a nice lunch to yourself and have a relaxing afternoon before the show. She took a long swig from her water bottle as she let herself into the house. She paused, noticing Quinn's shoes in the shoe shelf. It was only one o'clock - why was she home already.
"Quinn?" she called softly. She found her huddled in bed, eyes red as if she'd been crying. "Quinn, baby? What is it?" She dropped all of her things and kicked off her shoes, climbing into bed to hold her girlfriend.
"I…had a rough day at work," Quinn said, sniffling. She'd definitely been crying.
"What happened?" Rachel asked, giving her a kiss and pulling her closer.
Quinn snuggled into Rachel's side and wrapped her arms around her. "We had a visit day today. I think I told you?"
"Yeah, you're big open house."
"Well…I had to give this guy - one of the dads - a golf cart tour. He was on crutches. So…I was showing him around and he… sort of… he started making comments. Like dirty comments. He made a couple of them about the girls who were walking to class, and then he started directing them at me. I started to turn the cart around and go back to the office, and he told me that he wanted me to show him the dorms and maybe we could test out the beds. So I snapped at him and he shut up. But then when we got back… you know how you have to walk through the 'hall of fame' to get to the admissions office?"
"Yeah," Rachel said slowly, not liking where this was going. The hall wasn't that long - only about three yards - but unless you were looking directly into it from one of the entrances, it was sort of a blind corner.
"He sort of…grabbed me. Hard." Quinn lowered the sheets and lifted her shirt to reveal a bruise on her ribcage. "And…that wasn't the only place he grabbed me."
"Oh, Quinn…." Rachel pulled her into a hug and could feel her shaking.
"I screamed bloody murder, and Antoine came and rugby tackled him. They called the cops - his poor daughter was so embarrassed. Actually, that's probably an understatement. She looked like she wanted to die. And I…I just didn't… I couldn't concentrate for the rest of the morning. Jerry - my boss - told me I could take the rest of today and tomorrow, and he'd swipe the time so it didn't count against my vacation hours. I know it's over and it wasn't that bad, but I just feel…." She trailed off, unable to continue.
"Quinn, you were assaulted. It's perfectly understandable that you're not okay. It's okay to not be okay," Rachel said gently. She kissed her cheek. "You're safe now. I've got you."
Quinn was silent, but nodded and clung tightly to Rachel.
… we're together.
Quinn glanced around the living room, pleased with the final product. It was their anniversary, and she'd wanted to do something special. Sure, it was a little goofy, but she knew Rachel would love it. Especially after having to deal with a gross, rainy day and two crazy rehearsals….
"I'm home!"
Quinn turned and smiled as her girlfriend walked into the living room and stopped. "Happy anniversary," she said, striding forward for a kiss. "We're having a pillow fort night."
Rachel was staring open mouthed at the blankets and pillows and fairy lights that were adorning their living room. "How did you manage to get our king sized mattress in here?"
"Santana and Dani may have assisted," Quinn admitted with a grin. "If you would like to go change into something more comfortable, we can start our Disney movie marathon."
Rachel squeaked happily and ran off to the bedroom, vaulting over Toby on the way.
Quinn laughed as the dog stuck his head up and gave her the "What's up with Mommy?" look.
Rachel was back after throwing on some sweats and washing her face. She crawled into the makeshift tent, smiling as she spotted Oli curled up on her pillow.
"I tried to move him, but he wasn't having it," Quinn said.
"That's fine," Rachel said. "I'll be snuggling with you anyway." She curled into Quinn's side, and stole the remote control to start the movie.
Quinn smiled, at peace as the storm raged on outside.