A/N Second fanfic for Faberry week 2013
Theme: Kid!Faberry
Title: Four years
Rating: K+
"Big nose!" one boy called, kicking dust into the air
"Short stack!" another one shouted, laughing loudly.
"Hey!" the blonde called. The two boys looked over to her. "Leave her alone!"
"Yeah, what are you gonna do about it? You're just a stupid girl!" the first boy spat. The blonde gritted her teeth and ran up to the boy, punching him in the face. He fell backwards and started crying while his friend ran off. The small brunette looked up at her savior with tears in her eyes. The blonde held out a hand to help her off the ground. She took it and stood in front of the blonde.
"Y-you helped me?" the brunette asked. The blonde nodded. "Why?"
"Cause boys are stupid…and I don't think you have a big nose." The blonde said innocently. "What's your name?"
"Rachel." The brunette answered. "What's yours?"
"My…umm…my first name is Lucy, but I don't like it. I like my middle name, Quinn." The blonde explained. Rachel smiled widely.
"Then I'll call you Quinn!" she announced. The blonde smiled at her and then diverted her gaze to the ground where a book lay on the floor. She picked it up.
"Is this yours?" she asked. The brunette nodded.
"I was reading it. It's my favorite book." Rachel answered.
"The…The Wiz…eeerd of…ooze…" Quinn tried to read off the title. Rachel giggled.
"The Wizard of Oz!" she corrected with a smile. Quinn smiled back.
"What's it about?" she asked.
"It's about a girl who gets lost in a tornado and goes to Oz, then she follows the yellow brick road to Emerald city and the wizard sends her back home…but she meets a Scarecrow, a tin man and a lion on the way!" Rachel explained. She took the book and opened it. "Look there are pictures!"
Quinn giggled at the excited girl.
"Let's go up to my tree and look at them!" she suggested.
"Your tree?" Rachel asked, confused.
"Yeah!" Quinn said. She pointed to the only three in the play ground of the children's home that they all lived in for as long as they could remember. "I go up there, no one follows me, so it's safe!"
"But…what if I fall on my way up?" Rachel asked with a worried look on her face.
"I'll help you up, if you fall, I'll catch you!" Quinn assured with a smile on her face. Rachel nodded.
"Okay!" Rachel said. They ran over to the tree and Quinn helped Rachel up the first few branches.
"Keep going up to that big branch! It's strong, it'll hold us!" Quinn instructed. Rachel found her way up the branches, looking down every now and again to see Quinn standing right underneath her every time, arms held out ready to catch her. She made her way up to the strong branch Quinn had indicated.
"I did it!" Rachel called down happily.
"I knew you could!" Quinn called back up smiling. She began climbing the tree herself. Rachel watched as she followed the path up the tree. The blonde reached the last step before the big branch, her hand already next to Rachel as she lifted her foot up on another branch, only to have it slip off. Rachel grabbed her hand instinctively and helped pull her up on the branch.
"Where's the book?" Rachel asked when Quinn was seated next to her.
"Here!" Quinn said, pulling it out from under her shirt. "I put it there so I could climb up."
"That's really smart." Rachel said.
"Thanks." Quinn said with a blush. Rachel opened the book and she started showing Quinn the pictures and explaining the story to her, telling her all about the characters and the story in as much detail as a six year old could.
The hadn't noticed they had been up there for two hours until they heard Mrs. Henderson calling them.
"Rachel! Quinn! Get out of that tree! It's snack time!" she called, waving at them to gain their attention. Quinn went down the tree first and promised Rachel she would catch her if she fell on her way down. She almost slipped on her last branch and before she knew it Quinn's arms were around her tightly.
"I've got you!" she said with a smile, helping Rachel stand solidly on the ground before she took her hand and led her towards the house and into the dining room. They sat down next to each other sitting at a table with all the other kids and Mrs. Henderson put a glass of milk and a plate of four chocolate chip cookies in front of them. Quinn grabbed her glass with both hands and took a long sip before smiling at Rachel, who giggled at the sight of her milk mustache.
"What?" Quinn asked whens he saw her giggle. Rachel lifted her finger up to her own top lip and Quinn wiped hers with her sleeve. Rachel looked down to her plate and frowned when she saw it empty. She looked to the two boys from before and saw that they each had six cookies instead of four. Knowing Mrs. Henderson to not play favorites, especially with the two most troublesome boys, she knew she had found her culprits. Quinn looked at the frowning brunette.
"What's wrong Rach?" she asked her.
"They stole my cookies." Rachel said quietly, she had been used to the mistreatment from the two boys now.
"Here, you can share mine!" Quinn said happily, sliding two of her cookies onto Rachel's plate. Rachel beamed at her and kissed the blonde on the cheek before grabbing one of the cookies and biting into it.
Four years later.
A ten year old Rachel sat in that very same tree in the playground reading Alice In Wonderland. Quinn had read it and really enjoyed it and Rachel knew it was to the blonde what Wizard of Oz was to her, so she wanted to know it backwards and forwards just like Quinn knew the story of Dorothy. Ever since that day when Quinn had saved her from her two tormentors, they'd been thick as thieves. They would do absolutely everything together and refused to ever have the other one out of their sight. The two boys who had tormented Rachel when she was six seemed to back off just a little bit more over time until they finally left her alone. This was the first time in a long time that Quinn actually wasn't with the brunette, but Mrs. Henderson had called her into her office, she thought she was in trouble for something, more specifically punching both boys after the last time they had tried to pick on Rachel again last week, which resulted in two black eyes, one for each boy, and a promise to leave Rachel alone from now on. The blonde was shaking like a chihuahua when she was called to the office, so Rachel calmed her down, saying everything will be okay and giving the blonde a soft peck on the cheek before she climbed down the tree, giving Rachel her book to read before she left.
That was half an hour ago. Now Rachel is wondering what is taking Quinn so long and she's worried that the blonde was grounded or something. That's when she heard her name being called.
"Rachel!" Quinn called as she ran out onto the playground again.
"Quinn!" Rachel called back. "What is it? Should I come down?"
"No! I'll come up!" Quinn said, already on her second branch up the tree. In about a minute and a half she reached the top of the tree and sat down on the strong branch that held the two girls for four years. Rachel noticed the look in Quinn's eyes, but just couldn't figure out what had happened.
"What's wrong Quinn? Are you in trouble?" she asked. Quinn shook her head.
"No." Quinn said softly.
"Then…What happened?" Rachel asked again, confused.
"I…I'm getting adopted…" Quinn said. Rachel's eyes grew wide in understanding.
"That's great!" Rachel said with a smile. Quinn looked the girl in the eyes, her expression fully showing her just how not great it was.
"Rachel. If I'm adopted, then I'll never get to see you anymore!" Quinn said. Rachel frowned and looked back up to her friend.
"Y…You won't forget me though, right?" she asked.
"Rachel…I will always be your best friend! No matter where I am!" Quinn promised. Rachel beamed at her.
"Good! I have something for you! I made them for your birthday, but…you might not be here for that now…" Rachel trailed off, frowning at the realization of what she just said.
"What is it?" Quinn asked. Rachel reached into her pocket and pulled out two string bracelets with letter beads on them. One was blue, Quinn's favorite color, the other yellow, Rachel's favorite. The letter beads said 'Best Friends' in different colored letters, alternated to make the colors of the rainbow. Before the two words however there was the letter 'Q' and after it the letter 'R.' Each time a space was required between the beads there was a knot in the string to provide just that.
"I made them for us. The blue one is yours, that's your favorite colour, and the yellow one is mine cause that's my favorite. I made them so that no matter where we are we'd remember our pact. To always be best friends." Rachel explained.
"I won't forget that pact Rachel!" Quinn promised, tears welling up in her eyes.
"I'm happy you got adopted Quinn. I'm going to miss you, but you'll have a family now!" Rachel said.
"You're my family Rachel." Quinn argued.
"You'll have a real family, Quinn. A mommy and a daddy…" Rachel trailed off.
"I'm gonna have a big sister too. Her name in Franny." Quinn explained.
"See." Rachel said with a smile. "And you know you'll always have me, even if we aren't together all the time."
Quinn nodded, agreeing with the girl because she desperately wanted to let her know that she would always be in her heart. Rachel reached over, taking Quinn's hand and tying the blue string bracelet around her wrist. Quinn then took Rachel's hand in hers and tied the yellow one to the brunette's wrist. A silent agreement that no matter what happened they would always remember each other.
"How long before you leave?" Rachel asked.
"A week." Quinn responded.
The next day two men came to the children's home hoping to adopt a little girl. Mrs. Henderson introduced them to Rachel.
Four years later
The alarm went off on her nightstand. Quinn woke up and hit the snooze button, throwing herself back on the pillows. A minute later her mother was calling her from downstairs.
"Quinn! Wake up! You'll be late for your first day of high school!" her mother said excitedly.
"Yeah because that would be such a shame." Quinn grumbled before shoving herself of the bed. She got dressed, having showered the night before, and was downstairs in ten minutes, shoulder bag in hand. She walked into the kitchen and sat down as her mother put a bowl of milk in front of her.
"Thanks mom." She said, reaching over for the box of cereal in front of her. Her moth caught her wrist and looked at the blue string bracelet she had.
"Where did you get this?" Judy asked.
"Oh. I've had this thing for four years, my best friend from the children's home gave it to me the day I found out you guys were adopting me." Quinn explained. Judy smiled.
"Isn't that sweet." She said, releasing her daughters hand after examining the bracelet closely. Quinn smiled at her mother and poured the cereal into her bowl. "Do you miss her?"
"Of course I miss her mom, she's my best friend." Quinn shrugged.
"Even after four years of absence from each other's lives?" Judy asked.
"You never forget your best friend, mom." Quinn told her, filling her mouth with cereal to avoid having to talk about the subject further. Judy only smiled at her daughter before reaching over and taking the news paper and reading the headline.
"Judy! I have a meeting today, I'll be introduced to the board of this district." Russell said as he came down the stairs. "Morning sweetheart."
"Morning dad." Quinn mumbled. Russell dropped a kiss on top of his daughter's head before heading over to the counter and filling a cup of coffee for himself. He sat down at the table and smiled at the younger blonde.
"So, Quinnie, you ready for your first day of school?" he asked.
"Yes my first day of high school in a town where I don't even know anybody, I'm about to fly off in excitement." Quinn said sarcastically.
"Now, now. I know moving here was hard for you but you were never really that popular in school, were you?" Russell asked.
"True." Quinn mumbled. "I hated half of the people there, the other half I didn't know well enough to care."
"Exactly. This could be good for you, you could make some new friends!" Judy said with a smile.
"Whatever." Quinn rolled her eyes. She finished her breakfast and bid her mother a quick goodbye before jumping into the front seat of her father's car. Ten minutes later they pulled up in front of William McKinley High School. Quinn got out of the car and her father followed.
"Okay so you have everything?" he asked.
"Yeah, daddy." She answered.
"Class schedule?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Books?"
"Yes." She answered more forcefully.
"Cell phone?" he asked again.
"Like I ever leave the house without it." She answered, rolling her eyes. "Can I go now? Any longer and I'll be late!"
"You can't go until you give me a hug!" Russell ordered playfully. She rolled her eyes again, this time smiling at her father before wrapping her arms around him.
"Bye daddy." She said.
"Have a good day sweetheart, I'll see you at home." Russell said, planting a kiss on the top of Quinn's head. She pulled back and walked into the school building, taking out her schedule to find her locker and dump all her heavy books in there because they were weighing her down and she was sure her shoulder was about to pop out of it's socket.
She made her way down the hallway, looking at her schedule to memorize her locker number, looking at the signs on the walls to guide her. She didn't even see where she was going and before she knew it she was colliding with a smaller figure.
"Ow!" the other girl mumbled.
"Crap, I'm sorry I wasn't looking." Quinn said, not even seeing the other girl as she bent down to pick up her bag.
"It's okay I wasn't either, trying to find my locker before this bag makes me collapse." The other girl explained, picking up her schedule before standing up and looking at the blonde. She froze, eyes wide as if Quinn had grown a second head.
"Hi." Quinn began with a smile. "I'm-"
"Quinn?" Rachel asked.
"How do you…" Quinn furrowed her eyebrows before realization hit her and her eyes grew equally as wide. "R-Rachel?"
"Oh my God." Rachel breathed out.
"Is it really you?" Quinn asked, still not believing what she was seeing in front of her. Rachel held out her right wrist to show the yellow string bracelet that was sistered to Quinn's blue. Quinn repeated the gesture as well.
"Oh my God." Quinn said this time.
"You…you kept it?" Rachel asked.
"I barely ever took it off." Quinn answered. Rachel looked up in to those oh so familiar hazel eyes and tears welled up in her eyes.
"I can't believe it." She breathed out, choking back a sob. Quinn's own eyes were wet with tears of her own. "It's really you."
Quinn couldn't speak, a lump had grown in her throat and she knew talking would be impossible. She just nodded wildly. Her arms gave weigh to the heavy bag and it slid down to the floor, as did Rachel's which was still hanging from her hand rather than on her back. The blonde's tears were now falling freely as were Rachel's.
"Quinn!" Rachel sobbed again before collapsing into the blonde's arms. Quinn enveloped the shorter girl in a tight hug, barely registering Rachel's own arms round her waist as she sobbed into her shoulder. "How?"
"I moved here during the summer." Quinn said quietly, her throat sore from the large lump that held her sobs. "What about you?"
"I moved here after my dads adopted me." Rachel responded.
"Thank God for your dads!" Quinn sobbed with a huge grin on her face.
"Thank God for your parents!" Rachel echoed, tightening her grip around the blonde's waits. "I've missed you so much!"
"I did too." Quinn sobbed. "I told you I'd never forget you!"
"I didn't either! Oh my God!" Rachel sobbed. Quinn ran and hand through the shorter girls dark silky locks, trying to calm down her tears. Rachel pulled back slightly to look up at the blonde with a huge grin.
"Hi." Quinn said with a grin that mirrored the brunette's
"Hi." Rachel said through a giggle.
And just like that, they had another four years to make up for lost time.