Written for this prompt from the Quinn/Artie Forum:
Insecure Quinn plus Bartie/Tartie in the past...mentions of
I've had this prompt pasted into a Word document and sitting in a folder for three days waiting to be written, and I just...I don't know. I hope this is alright.
"I really don't think I should come," Quinn said, sitting down on the couch in the living room. "It's your grandparents' anniversary party. That's supposed to be a family thing. And you haven't seen them for over a year."
"Well, you're practically family," he answered. "And you'll officially be family in less than three months. Plus, you've been helping me all week get their house in order, and the party isn't until the weekend. You're going to see them before that, and then you're coming to the party. That's that."
She grinned at the mention of their upcoming wedding. "I know...I just...I've never met your dad's parents before. What if they don't like me?"
He took her hand. "How can you even say that?" he asked. "They will love you. They already do. My grandma is so excited!"
She grinned. "She said that?"
He nodded. "She's a very...blunt person. Trust me, she wouldn't have said that if it wasn't true. I talk about you every time I talk to her in the phone...which isn't that often, because, I mean...they've been in Tanzania, but...you know what I mean."
"Is that where you get your adorable blunt streak from?" she asked, grinning at him.
He shrugged. "Probably. Or, you know...from either of my parents..."
She laughed. "True. What time does their flight get in?"
"Tomorrow at 5," he said. "I'm going to go pick them up. You're coming, right?"
"I don't think I should," she said quietly. "I mean...you haven't seen them for over a year. They want to see you...not me. And I can meet them at the party on Saturday, which I'm apparently going to."
"Um...no," he said. "They want to see US. Actually...I think my grandma wants to meet you more than she even wants to see me."
"Ok. If you insist. Where are they flying from again?" she asked, smiling at the adorable expression on his face. "I know you've told me about five times, but I forget."
"Their flight might have already left Tanzania," he said, "and they have a stopover in Holland, I think. I'm actually not 100% sure. I just know what time they're getting here."
She grinned. "You've never been much for details, have you?"
"I can't be the master of everything," he said, grinning back. "As much as I'd like that, it's just...not possible."
"Well, as long as they get here, it's all good, right?" she said.
He nodded. "Yeah, that's kind of how I look at it."
"We should get to bed. Lots of stuff to do tomorrow before we go get them," she said.
He grinned. "Mmmm, bed. Ok. And you just said we! That means you're coming."
She nodded. "You go ahead, I'll be there in a second," she said. "I just want to finish up going through these papers."
He nodded. "Don't be long. I'm really tired, and I'll be asleep if you take more than about five minutes."
She laughed. "You won't even be in the bed yet in five minutes...I think I have enough time."
He shrugged. "I might!"
"Artie...go. I'll be right there," she said, grinning at him.
"Fine," he said. "I'll warm the bed up."
"Artie, this was a bad idea," she said, as they headed into the arrivals part of the airport. "I should have stayed home. You haven't seen them for so long..."
He cut her off. "Stop it! They want to see you! My grandma sent me an email while they were waiting for the plane in Stockholm, and she said you'd better be here with me to meet them!"
"Your grandma emails?" she asked, grinning. "That's cute."
He nodded. "She said she's going to start Facebooking too, now that they're back."
Quinn burst out laughing. "So...we need to censor Facebook from now on?"
He grinned. "Actually...I'm more concerned about HER saying inappropriate things than I am about us saying things."
Quinn laughed again.
"Seriously," he continued. "When she met Tina, she told her she thought she was trying a little hard to be different. I thought Tina was going to cry."
Quinn glanced at him. "Well...never mind, I'm not even going to go there."
He laughed. "And when she met Brittany, she didn't say anything directly to her, but she told me afterwards that she thought I'd be better off dating a box of tic-tacs, because at least a box of tic-tacs would be useful for something."
Quinn frowned slightly. "Artie...this isn't helping! I shouldn't have come. What's she going to have to say about me?"
"Um...that you're amazing?" he said, as they approached the waiting area. "That you're beautiful and she can't wait for you to have our babies?"
She grinned. "Our babies? I thought we said we were going to wait with that."
He grinned back. "I know, but...I thought...I don't know...maybe, if you want to...that we shouldn't wait too long?"
"Ok, so we're sitting here at the airport waiting for your grandparents, who I am incredibly nervous to meet, and then you tell me that you want us to have babies soon...Artie! This isn't helping!"
He laughed. "I thought thinking about our babies would distract you."
"Well, it didn't! And..." she trailed off. "Is that their plane unloading?"
He checked the display over their heads. "5049? Yeah...that's them. I just realized that I'm probably not going to be able to see them, so...look for them, ok? Just wave at them when you see them."
"I don't know what they look like!" she said. "Artie, I think I'm hyperventilating."
He grinned. "No you're not. When you hyperventilate your face goes a LOT redder. And I thought this might happen, so I brought a picture," he added, handing her a small snapshot. "I bet you $5 my grandma will be wearing a hot pink jacket."
As they waited, Quinn put her hand on Artie's shoulder, squeezing a little harder than he would have liked. "Next time you tell me something's a good idea, I'm just going to ignore you. They're going to hate me."
He looked up at her. "Stop saying that. They are not!"
"I think that's them," she said. "You were right about the hot pink jacket."
He grinned. "You owe me $5."
She laughed. "I never took that bet. Oh. They see us. And they're waving. And walking REALLY fast."
Before Artie could respond, his grandparents were upon them.
Quinn was about to say something, when Artie's grandmother wrapped her arms around her.
"You must be Quinn! Oh, it's so nice to meet you!" she gushed, releasing Quinn from her hug. "And Artie! Honey! You're even more handsome than you used to be, and I didn't think that was possible!"
Artie grinned. "Thanks, Grandma. Stating the obvious, but...this is Quinn," he said, making some sort of hand gesture that he hoped would look like an introduction.
After Artie's grandpa had hugged both of them, the four set off to the luggage carousel to collect Artie's grandparents' luggage.
As they waited, Artie's grandma turned to Quinn. "I've been waiting for months to meet you, dear! Every time I've talked to Artie, pretty much since we've been gone, he's done nothing but talk about you! I figured anyone that takes up that much of his brain space must be wonderful. He doesn't usually do that."
Quinn grinned shyly. "Well, I think he's pretty wonderful too," she said. "And he talks about you all the time."
Artie's grandma chuckled. "Well, only good things, I hope?"
Quinn smiled. "Yes...only good things." She was about to say something else, when Artie cut in.
"Grandma, how many bags do you guys have? Grandpa says he thinks six, but he can't remember."
She rolled her eyes. "We have seven. And they all have rainbow ribbons on them."
"I'm going to go get another cart," Quinn said. "I don't think they'll all fit on one."
After she was gone, and Artie's grandpa went to the carousel to grab the first of their bags, his grandma turned to him. "I think you picked a winner, honey."
He grinned. "I was hoping you'd say that."
That night, when they were lying in bed, he turned to her.
"That wasn't so bad, was it?"
Quinn smiled. "No, it wasn't. Unless your grandma said something to you when I wasn't listening."
He grinned. "All she said was that she thinks I've picked a winner."
"And, do you agree with her?" she said, moving closer to him.
He wrapped his arm around her. "I do."
She leaned back, resting on his chest. "Good, because I think I picked a winner too."
A/N: Thoughts? Does this work? Does this need a second chapter?
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