Title: The Christmas Elf

Rating: M for Mature audiences.

Fandom: Glee

Pairings/Characters: Beth, Quinn/Rachel, Santana/Brittany and Kurt/Blaine

Genre: Romance and Family

Summary: Struggling to make ends meet and give her daughter the Christmas she deserves, Quinn Fabray takes the job as personal driver and assistant to Broadway Queen and A-list star, Rachel Berry. Will love blossom under the twinkling lights of New York, or will they burn out before they even ignite. This story is A/U, with Faberry and Beth as the main characters.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot belong to the respective author. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

A/N: If I didn't mention it before, this is unbeta. All mistakes are mine. Anyone interested in betaing for me, please PM me.

The Christmas Elf

Quinn had been working as an elf at Macy's for two weeks now. After her first day at work, she quickly realized that there was nothing glamorous working as an elf. The job paid well for wearing a cute outfit for only six hours, but other than that, the job was a major joke and nightmare.

There were several Elf positions. She, unfortunately, got the job as the Helper Elf. She had the amazing job of finding out the kids name, see if Santa was ready and give any helpful information Santa may need (if the kid was sick, a little too overweight, rude mom, overprotective mom and the worst, if the kid was going to be a screamer) Then she gets the lucky job of putting the brat on Santa's lap. Yes, most kids were tolerable and sweet, with their cute Christmas outfit, rosy cheeks and sweet smiles; however, kids under three was a guarantee screamer and nightmare. Nothing you could do would convince them to sit on Santa's lap. Some parents wanted the picture no matter what. Those were the worst. Whoever wanted a picture with the jolly man in the red suit grinning, while holding your screaming child, was just plain demented. Then poor Santa and she had to deal with the screaming, crying, kicking and hair pulling kid until the photo taken. Fucking nightmare.

After work she would pick up Beth from the afterschool program, and they would walk home from there. When they arrived home, she would help Beth with her homework; clean up a bit and make dinner. After dinner, she would do their dirty dishes while Beth took her bath. Once Beth was in bed, she would go over the paper, looking at potential jobs. So far she had no luck.

Throwing the paper on the coffee table in frustration, Quinn gripped the ends of her hair, releasing the tension that had built up there as tears of anger, shame and sadness journeyed down the gentle slope of her cheeks.

She would never regret making the decision to have and keep Beth, but sometimes she wondered if she was punishing Beth by not giving her the life she deserved and wanted for her daughter. She couldn't help but think that if she had maybe gave Beth away to the nice family, with the home in the suburbs, luxury German cars, a summer home in the Hamptons and perfect smiles, if Beth's life would have turned out better. Just as fast those thoughts came, they quickly left faster. She wouldn't trade Beth for anything. Maybe it was selfish of her, but she loved and needed her daughter with such a fierceness it often left her breathless. It was those feelings that made her not give up, and dropped out of Yale when her little girl was three because putting food on the table and clothes on her little girls back was more important. She didn't regret one ounce of it, she still doesn't.

Standing, exhaustion evident in the rings around her eyes and the haggard look in her face, Quinn made her way to bed. She had work early morning.


"I know, Santana, but I just can't do it this year," Quinn said into the phone, picking at her uneaten peanut butter sandwich that she pack for lunch.

Santana Lopez had been her best friend since the young age of six her and her saving grace for as long as she could remember. She had been more so in the last five years. Santana had called to ask if Quinn and Beth would be flying down to their hometown of Lima, Ohio, for Christmas. As much as she wanted to visit the family that took her in when her family threw her out at sixteen, she just couldn't. They had given her and Beth so much already; it would be a cold day in hell for her to take any more from them.

"You know my mom –" Santana started to say, only to be cut off by the proud blond.

"No! I won't do that. And before you say anything, I'm not taking anything from you and Brittany, either. Beth and I will be fine. I saved up enough for a small dinner for us," Quinn said, fighting back the tears as she just lied to her best friend. To be honest, Quinn just planned on going to a couple of food shelters, hoping they were handing out turkeys for the holidays.

"You should be with family during the holidays. You know my mom and dad would love to see Beth. They haven't seen you guys in two years."

"No. I won't take any more from your parents. They already did enough by taking in me when my supposed parents kicked me out. We'll be fine, Santana. I promise to try and make a trip down there this summer," Quinn said, wrapping up her sandwich. She wouldn't throw it away, not when she could save it and eat it for dinner. She couldn't afford to waste food. "I have to go. My break will be over in ten minutes, and I still need to use the restroom. I love you, S. You're a good friend, sister."

"Ditto, bitch," came the snarky reply, but Quinn could hear the smile and love in Santana's voice. "Oh, before you go. Britt and I will be visiting Saturday. We bought a couple of groceries for you."

"San-" Quinn tried to get in, only to be cut off.

"Bye, Bitch." Quinn sighed when she heard the click of Santana hanging up in her ear.

Quinn huffed in annoyance. Her best friends, who struggled just as much as she did, shouldn't be buying her and her daughter food. Santana was a freshman at Harvard Law, planning on going into Family Law. All of Santana's money went into tuition and rent for hers and Brittany's new apartment in Boston. Santana's family wasn't poor; however, they weren't rich, either. Santana's college trust fund only paid for the first four years at Columbia before she went to Harvard as her choice of law school. Santana was up to her neck in student loans and her family had to take a second mortgage on their house to help pay for her schooling. She would just be filled with more guilt if she took more from them.


Quinn passed Beth a plate of Mac N' Cheese and hot dogs. "How was school today?" Quinn asked, tentatively. Ever since she picked up Beth from school, Beth had been quite and withdrawn. That wasn't like her normal chatty, bright and playful daughter.

"Mommy, what's poor?" Quinn's breath hitched at the question. "Susie Hamilton, from my after school program, said I was poor because my jacket has holes and my shoes aren't shiny like hers. Am I poor?" Quinn heart seized at the innocent question.

"No, baby, you aren't poor," Quinn said honestly. They weren't poor. There were people out there that had less than they had. They had a roof over their heads, clothes on their backs and food in their stomach. It wasn't the fanciest apartment or clothes, and the food was generic, but it worked for them. It kept them off the streets.

"Hey, guess what?" Quinn said a little too cheery. She wanted to change the subject. She knew there will be a day where she would have to explain to Beth why she can't afford the things her friend's family can, but today wasn't that day, she decided.

"What?" Beth mumbled around a bite of sliced hot dog.

"Auntie Anna and Britt are visiting this weekend. I thought maybe we could have pizza and ice cream for dinner that day." She had a coupon that would get her a large pizza half off, and a buy one, get one free coupon for the ice cream.

"Really?!" Beth shouted with a large smile painted on her face. "Can we get peperoni and bacon on it?"

"Whatever you want, baby. Just not anchovies," Quinn grimaced, a shiver of disgust shot up her spine. Anchovies had been a craving for her during her pregnancy with Beth, now the sight or smell of them made her recoil.

"Yes!" Beth fist pumped. "It's going to be so much fun," Beth squealed. "I missed them so much."

Quinn kissed her daughter on her tiny button noise, smiling when Beth giggled and scrunch up her nose. "I missed them, too. Now, get back to your dinner, Princess Beth. I need you healthy and alive."

Beth kissed her mom on the cheek before she returned to her dinner, while Quinn went to clean up their dinner dishes. She put the left overs in a container. They would be used for dinner in a couple of nights and turned on the stove that she used to heat up the room.

"All right, time for bath. Go get ready; I'll be in there soon," Quinn said drying the last dish.

"Okay!" Beth took one last drink of her milk before she dashed off.

When Quinn heard the water running from their moldy, small bathroom, she braced her white knuckle fist on the counter, bowed her head, willing herself not to break down. Beth's question broke her just a little bit more, and only resolved her determination to give her daughter a better Christmas and life.

A woman named Angela came to mind. She was a single mom, also. She had no help from family, the child's father or friends. She worked two jobs, went to school online to get a degree in business and raised a baby all by herself.

She knows she can do that, if only she could find two jobs. It would take away her time from Beth but it was worth it if it gave her daughter a better life than what she was providing now. Then later, when Beth was older, she could return to Yale, or some other college. She's a firm believer that you're never too old to get an education. All you need to have is determination and the passion to learn. She had always wanted to go into editing or journalism. Thinking about her career dreams, it made her think of the half written book she had wrote during her pregnancy to Beth. She had put it in the back burner when Beth was born, never giving it another thought. She thinks she might pull it out from her box of mementos. It wouldn't hurt to have a look at it.

"Mommy!" she heard Beth voice bellow from the bathroom. "I'm done!"

Quinn pushed herself off the counter and made her way to the bathroom, stopping on the way to grab a towel from the small storage closet.

"All right, Miss Fabray, out you goes." Quinn pulled the plug from the drain. "What book have you decided to read, tonight?"

"The Velveteen Rabbit," Beth answered.

Quinn smiled; it was her favorite book as a child. She was happy Beth fell in love with the story that thought young kids that in loving others and vise verse, you become real.

Quinn wrapped the dingy, thread bare towel around Beth's body, carrying her into the living room, on their bed, where she wrapped Beth in blankets to keep her warm.

They lived above a Chinese restaurant that should be condemned. The living room was basically twelve feet by twelve feet with a small living room, closet size bathroom off the living room and a closet that she couldn't even stand in. They slept in the living room since they didn't have any bedrooms. She had a large pull-out couch against one wall, which worked for her and Beth's bed, a makeshift coffee table/dinner table made from crates and a wooden plank, and two dressers against other wall. In one corner, sat an old television hooked up to a VCR player she had got from a thrift shop. The place was a dump with its water stained ceilings, dingy, torn and worn carpet that started out as the color of a light brown, but was now black. She was sure she was paying more rent than what it was worth, too. She didn't complain, though. It was the cheapest she had found at the time. Still is.

Shaking her head to ward off the unpleasant thoughts, Quinn went to the dresser to pull out a pair of pajamas for Beth.


That night, after reading Beth to sleep and getting ready for bed herself, Quinn fell into bed in an exhausted heap. It wasn't long before her head hit the pillow that Quinn fell asleep, dreaming of a future where her daughter and she were happily living without any worries. In the morning, she would wake, and realize that's all it will ever be. A dream.

TBC

A/N: I decided to try and update every Tuesday and Friday. It would give me time to write between updates. Since I don't have anything going on for me and school not start until mid-January, I have plenty of time to write. See you Tuesday!

o